The Life and Public Services 
of James Logan 



BY 



IRMA JANE COOPER 



SUBMITTED IX PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

IN THE 

Faculty of Political Science, 
Columbia University 



New York, 192 i 



The Life and Public Services 
of James Logan 



BY 



IRMA JANE COOPER 



SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

IN THE 

Faculty of Political Science, 
Columbia University 



New York, 1921 



.L%3S 



JUL U ilfi't 



PREFACE. 

The subject for this dissertation was suggested to me by 
Professor Herbert L. Osgood, under whose direction I began 
to work in 1917. After Professor Osgood's death, Professor 
William R. Shepherd consented to take charge of my work. I 
wish to thank him for reading the manuscript and making 
many valuable suggestions. I wish also to express my appre- 
ciation of the courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
vania for free access to their manuscript collection from which 
most of my materials were drawn. 

It has been my endeavor to present from the manuscripts and 
such printed matter as was available, a study of James Logan, 
a hitherto rather neglected, albeit extremely important figure 
in provincial Pennsylvania. I have tried to touch upon the 
various phases of his services to the colony, and at the same 
time picture him as a decidedly interesting member of society. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Page 

I. Logan as Financial Agent for William Penn 7 

IL Logan as Leader of the Proprietary Party against 

David Lloyd 17 

in. Logan as Leader of the Proprietar}- Party against 

Colonel Robert Quarry 28 

IV. Logan and the Governors of Pennsylvania 36 

V. Logan as a Friend of the Indians 51 

VI. Logan as Chief Justice 59 

VII. Logan, the Man 65 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF JAMES LOGAN. 

Introductory. 

The school children of the United States are familiar with 
the name and story of William Penn. They are attracted by 
the spectacle of the young man of wealth and position volun- 
tarily renouncing both for an ideal. They are further im- 
pressed by his philanthropic desire to provide an asylum for his 
oppressed co-religionists in the land which he had received 
from Charles II in payment for money owed Penn's father. 
They know of his generous dealing with the Indians ; of his 
modesty in objecting (as the story goes) to having his prov- 
ince bear his name. To the majority of school children and 
to many of the adult population of our country, the story of 
William Penn is the story of the early years of Pennsylvania. 

We are, all of us, prone to hero worship. We seize upon 
the one whom we conceive to be the man of the hour and 
shower him with honors until, like Voltaire, he succumbs to 
a surfeit of popularity. We honor the general with a parade ; 
we elect Grant to be president ; we present a house to Admiral 
Dewey, in grateful recognition of their services to their coun- 
try. While we do this, we ignore (for wc do not forget) the 
rank and file who made possible the victory directed by their 
leader. The writers of history and biography recognize and 
stimulate, perhaps unconsciously, this idealistic tendency. 
They have painted for us the life and achievements of William 
Penn in fadeless colors. Nor would I minimize his importance. 
He was a great man, imbued with a great idea. His "Holy 
Experiment" bore the fruit its high minded conception de- 
served. The world does well to honor its William Pcnns — 
and it usually has honored them. The rank and file have for 
the most part passed by unnoticed. 



6 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

James Logan was by no means an ordinary member of the 
rank and file of the citizens in the early days in Pennsylvania. 
For forty years he was one of the leading men of the colony. 
He had every position of importance which the colony had 
to ofifer. For ten years longer, although not actively con- 
nected with the administration of the government, he was 
consulted by its officials, and respected by everyone. Upon 
his death he bequeathed to the city of Philadelphia his exten- 
sive library and a fund to be held in trust for its maintenance. 
To Logan's fifty years of continuous service in Pennsylvania 
we may contrast Penn's four years of actual residence there. 
That this was due to necessity and not to desire does not 
detract from the value of the comparison. 

Penn's name is known to everyone; Logan's is known to 
but few. There has been no extensive biography of him 
written. Two volumes of his letters have been published ; 
there are in the library of the Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
vania in Philadelphia 45 volumes of letters and papers in 
manuscript. He has received brief, but honorable, mention 
in all the histories of Penn and of Pennsylvania that have 
been written, save the "Review" of Benjamin Franklin. Dr. 
Sharpless has accorded him a place in his small volume en- 
titled "Political Leaders of Provincial Pennsylvania." His 
name survives in a suburb of Philadelphia and in some other 
local points of interest. The Votes of the Assembly and the 
Minutes of the Provincial Council abound in references to him, 
but no one reads them for pleasure. It is my purpose in this 
account to present a complete picture of a representative Penn- 
sylvanian, who was perhaps more closely identified with the 
development of the colony during the first half of the 18th 
century than was any other single man.^ 



1 C/. Sharpless, Political Leaders of Provincial Pennsylvania, p. 115. 



LOGAN AS FINANCIAL AGENT FOR WM. PENN. 

Of Logan's ancestry and of his early life we have but the 
barest outHne. We are told that he was born in 1674 at Lur- 
gan, Ireland. His family belonged to the middle class, al- 
though they were rather remotely connected, on his mother's 
side, with the Scottish nobility. His father was a school- 
master and from him James may have inherited his love for 
knowledge. At the age of fourteen he abandoned his studies 
and was apprenticed to a linen draper. The vicissitudes of 
fortune drove the family in 1688 from Ireland to Scotland, and 
thence to London, where James taught for a while, having 
mastered two modern and three ancient languages, as well as 
mathematics. Teaching did not furnish sufficient activity for 
his energetic spirit, and he would have gone to Jamaica in 
1697 had not his mother objected. He remained in England, 
engaged in the shipping trade, two years longer, then set sail 
with William Penn in 1699 for America, w-here he was to 
remain, but for two short visits to England, for the rest of 
his life. 

Arriving in Pennsylvania, Logan took up his residence with 
Penn in the "Slate Roof house, but the proprietor soon moved 
to his country estate, Pennsbury, leaving his young secretary 
in town to carry out his orders, and those of his good wife, 
Hannah. With such various tasks as he was given to per- 
form, life could not have been monotonous to Logan. One 
day he would receive a message from Penn telling him to 
"Let me know the last day of John Askew's stay; also if 
they will take a couple of tame foxes." Another order read: 
"Pray, examine closely about those that fired upon the Indians 
and frightened them by Dan Pegg's." Logan carried mes- 
sages, also, from the proprietor to the council on days when 
the former did not feel inclined to leave the charms of Penns- 



8 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

bury. He collected rents and other moneys due Penn. If peo- 
ple objected to the quit-rents which they were required to 
pay, Penn referred them to Logan with the assurance that 
he would do them justice. Logan was required to "prepare a 
nervous proclamation against vice ;" also to assist Thomas 
Story in planning which laws the Assembly was to keep and 
which were to be repealed. From these instructions^ we gain 
a picture of Logan, busy and efficient, laying the foundations 
for the career in which he was to fill with such success the 
offices of mayor, councillor, trustee of the Penn estate, chief 
justice of the supreme court, and arbiter in matters of Indian 
policy. 

Frequently Logan's orders came from Hannah Penn. and 
these he obeyed as cheerfully and as satisfactorily as he did 
those of her husband. Perhaps it was for this that she stood 
by him so loyally when in later years he was ousted from his 
offices and condemned by Governor Keith. He was frequently 
requested to purchase household supplies and send them to 
Pennsbury. If new mill-stones were needed, or the supply of 
chocolate ran low, or a plumber was required, a note to James 
brought quick results.^ One such letter I quote to illustrate 
the manifold character of Logan's tasks.- 

"Call Betty Webb to thy assistance ; let her send two mops 
to wash the house with ; four silver salts, and the two handle 
porringer that is in my closet; the looking glass that is in 
the hall, if it can be carefully put up; the piece of dried beef; 
and if any ship with provisions come from Rhode Island, I 
would have thee buy a firkin, two or three, as price and worth 
is, of good butter, also cheese, candles, etc., for winter's store." 

In 1702 Penn embarked for England never to return. He 
had hoped to remain in Pennsylvania for some time — perhaps 
for the rest of his life, but information having reached him 
that a bill was before the House of Lords which threatened 



^ Cf. Penn-Logan Correspondence, Vol. IX. Penna. Hist. Soc. ; Mem- 
oirs, pp. 5-20. 

2 Ibid IX, 13. 



Logan as Financial Agent 9 

to deprive him of his colony, he hastened home to oppose 
it. This sudden departure made it impossible for him to leave 
all his affairs in Pennsylvania in perfect order. He appointed 
Hamilton lieutenant governor, subject to the royal approba- 
tion, and told him that he might afifix the great seal to the 
yet unfinished Charter of Privileges within six months "unless 
he received other orders. Logan received from the proprietor 
also a letter of instructions which gives us some idea of the 
responsibilities that were to be his. He was to keep a watch- 
ful eye on Pennsbury, seeing that the servants managed the 
estate properly, and that nothing was allowed to decay. At 
the same time he was forbidden to spend much money on its 
upkeep — a restriction of which he complained to Thomas 
Penn in later years. Penn's parsimony extended to a poor 
relative named Durant, who was committed to Logan's care 
with the admonition that he was to be sparing with her, and 
at the same time see to it that she did not come to want. 

By the letter of instructions Logan was commissioned as 
Penn's financial agent. As such he was instructed to com- 
plete two mills and run them at a profit ; to have the colony 
resurveyed in two years if possible ; collect rents, fines, es- 
cheats, Friends' subscriptions; to sell lands and estimate the 
value of the estate ; to pay all bills in Penn's name. In par- 
ticular he was to secure, through the Assembly, the pa> ment 
of salaries to the lieutenant governor, and to Moore, the attor- 
ney general.* 

To perform all these tasks meant not only that Logan must 
possess untiring energy, but unswerving loyalty as well. We 
have Penn's testimony to the second in a letter which he 
addressed in 1703 — "To my trusty and well beloved friend, 
James Logan, Secretary of the government and propriety of 
Pennsylvania, America." Mrs. Penn testified to the same 
fact when she rebuked Governor Keith for his treatment of 
Logan. Her letter said: "And I must do him the justice to 
say that we had long experience of his many faithful services 

3 Pcnn-Logan Corr. IX., 59 et. scq. 



10 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

and of his constant care and zeal to promote and support our 
interest in that country."^ The magnitude of Logan's task is 
fully brought out by the correspondence which passed between 
him and the proprietor. Nor was it lessened by Penn's impa- 
tience, by the discontent of the colonists, fanned into flame by 
David Lloyd, by the hazards of colonial shipping or by the 
uncertainty of the foreign market. 

One of the first things undertaken by Logan in his capacity 
as financial agent was the compilation of an exact rent-roll for 
Philadelphia. He wrote Penn of this, informing him that 
every foot of the ground was measured by his (Logan's) own 
hands ; and that when he had completed the city he proposed 
doing the same for the entire province. This task was not 
completed by 1705, as we perceive from a letter written by 
Penn to Logan. In it he complains of having received no 
money and no information concerning the rent-roll, although 
Logan knows full well his needs. ^ This letter was written at 
a time when Penn was well nigh desperate. His creditors 
were pressing on every side. The Fords were threatening him 
with a law-suit. He was tr}'ing, without much success, to 
arrange terms with the House of Lords for the surrender of 
the government of Pennsylvania. His oldest son was proving 
an additional source of trouble. Factional disputes in his 
colony had nearly disrupted its government. It is no wonder, 
in the face of so many difBculties, that Penn should have used 
an unwonted tone of asperity toward his hard-worked financial 
agent. 

The proprietor's greatest need in this time of stress was 
ready money. Logan bent every endeavor to collect and remit 
money to him, but the natural difficulties which confronted 
him made it impossible to provide Penn with anything like 
an adequate supply. In a letter written in 1703 he said: "I 
am going again into Chester Co. about rents, where I have al- 
ready sat the best part of two weeks, and received not £20 in 

< Votes of the Assembly, II., 415. 
' Penn-Logan Corr. X., 72. 



Logan as Finaxcial Agent ii 

the whole, money is so exceeding scarce."^ Wheat, the people 
had in abundance, but there was no sale for it, and with no 
money they were unable to pay the quit-rents which they 
owed to the proprietor. This shortage of currency troubled 
the colony greatly, until in 1722 the Assembly passed a law 
providing for the issue of a small amount of well secured 
paper. That the measure was conservative, and therefore 
safe, was due largely to the efforts of Logan and Norris who 
were opposed to paper money, and addressed the Assembly on 
its disadvantages. Despite their opposition the bill passed, 
though in a mt)dified form. The paper greatly stimulated 
trade, and added much to the glory of Governor Keith, who 
had advocated its introduction. 

A second hindrance to the collection of rents was the un- 
certainty which existed in the minds of many, as to how long 
Penn would retain the government of his colony. It was 
well known in Pennsylvania that he was trying to dispose of 
it to the crown. Penn seemed not quite sure himself of the 
wisdom of such a course. He wrote frequently to Logan ask- 
ing for advice on this head. Logan gave his opinions as re- 
quested, but modestly deprecated their worth. It was a dif- 
ficult subject on which to form an opinion. If the Assembly, 
under the leadership of David Lloyd, persisted in its quarrel- 
some mood, Penn would be well rid of the government. So 
Logan thought, and so he wrote Penn. The contentious As- 
sembly overreached itself, however, and in 1705 the secretary 
was able to give the proprietor advice contrary to that offered 
previously. A group of friends in Pennsylvania were about 
to address Penn, assuring him of their financial support and 
of their intention of carrying the Assembly at the next elec- 
tion. In that event Logan advised that Penn retain his colony. 
Such a shifting of opinion rather nettled Penn who complained 
to Logan that he was staggering under the diversity of Lo- 
gan's directions.^ To this the Secretary made answer that 

« Pcnn-Logan Corr. IX.. 187. 
' Pcnn-Logan Corr. X., 106. 



12 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

he had given his opinion each time according to the circum- 
stances of the moment, and was not to be blamed if those 
circumstances changed. 

Penn continued to treat with the Lords and had received a 
first payment for the government of Pennsylvania when he 
was stricken with paralysis, and his affairs passed into the 
hands of his wife. The sale was never completed and the Penn 
family retained possession of the land and government of 
Pennsylvania. All this bargaining made the collection (jf 
rents which were due the proprietor very difficult. Men ex- 
cused themselves on the ground that they might pay Penn 
to-day and find themselves obliged to pay the crown or some- 
one else to-morrow. 

A third difficulty which confronted Logan, as he went up 
and down the colony demanding the riioney that was owed to 
Penn, was the Ford affair. This transaction is too well known 
to require more than a passing reference. At the death of 
Philip Ford, from whom Penn had borrowed money on his 
colony as security, his heirs sued for possession of Pennsyl- 
vania and presented a bill to Penn which was the result of 
much chicanery and juggling of figures. Upon Penn's fail- 
ure to pay it he was arrested and lodged in Old Bailey. The 
court finally settled the affair by requiring Penn to pay the 
Fords a sum very much smaller than they had demanded. 
This was raised through the subscription of Friends and the 
sale of lands, and Penn was free once more. Logan had 
tried to prevent the story of the whole transaction from cir- 
culating in the colony, but had failed because of the activity 
of David Lloyd who had been retained as attorney by Bridget 
Ford. When Logan saw that he could not suppress the story, 
he tried to spread favorable reports of Penn's progress, but 
in this, too, he was foiled as "Copies of all the proceedings in 
Chancery, etc., being carefully sent over, are exposed by David 
Lloyd, so that until the matter be determined, nobody thinks 
himself secure."^ As a result the colonists refused to pay 

* Penn-Logan Corr. X., 265. 



Logan as Financial Agent 13 

rents or buy land, or in other ways risk tluir money until 
they were sure of the outcome of the Ford affair. 

In addition to the collection of rents, fines, etc., Loj^an with 
three other men had been commissioned by Penn to arrange 
for the sale of such portions of Pennsylvania territory as they 
were able to dispose of. They had to see to the surveying and 
mapping of the colony, investigate titles, settle disputes and 
make favorable terms with the Indians. Ab(Ae all the>- had to 
take care that the proj^rictor's rights were not neglected. 
"Take care also that I have 5(X) acres in every township that is 
laid out, and that the surveyors do me right therein, "° Penn 
wrote Logan. The correspondence of the time abounds in 
reference to land sales. Many individual cases which the 
commissioners did not feel competent to settle were referred to 
Penn who seemed always to remember the details, as though 
he were personally acquainted with every settler in his colony. 
Penn was very anxious that his children should have exten- 
sive tracts of land as well as city lots reserved for them. Logan 
speaks in one letter of having laid out land for Johnny and 
"Thommie," the younger sons of Penn.'" In another he men- 
tions having refused f 1,100 Pennsylvania money for a lot of 
Letitia's, but says that he would accept £900 sterling." After 
Lctitia's marriage to William Aubrey more of her lands had 
to be sold to pay her dowry. Aubrey was very impatient, 
causing both Penn and Logan some very unpleasant 
moments because of his caustic tongue and pen. It grieved 
Logan that such unpleasantness could arise between himself 
and one whom he had delighted to call "my little mistress." 

Although engaged in the transfer of thousands of acres of 
land, Logan hesitated to ask Penn for a small tract on which 
to build a granary, for fear that his position as a freeholder 
might arouse envious feelings in the breasts of other less 



* Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 9. 

10 Penn-Logan Corr IX.. 290. 291. 

" Ibid. X.. 9. 



14 The Life axd Plblic Services of James Logan 

favored servants of the proprietor.^- In 1714 he purchased 
500 acres of land in the city liberties next to Germantow^n, 
and fourteen years later built there a country seat named 
Stenton after the parish in which his father was born. 
Through the painstaking care of the Colonial Dames the 
mansion stands to-day, not only as a memorial to the name 
of James Logan but as a pleasing example of our best type of 
colonial architecture. 

The year 1718 marked the death of William Penn. The 
transfer of the land office in Pennsylvania to other hands than 
Logan's had occurred four years earlier. Logan had been 
named in the proprietor's will as one of the colonial trustees 
for settling his estate. This new office, added to his duties as 
member of the Provincial Council, made it impossible for 
him to attend longer to the collection of rents and the survey 
and sale of land. 

When Logan had collected money for Penn from rents or 
the sale of land, his tasks as financial agent were by no means 
ended. He had still to get the money safely into Penn's hands 
— a truly hazardous undertaking. Money was seldom shipped 
directly, but was invested in cargoes the sale of which would 
yield a profit. If the venture was a success all was well, but 
there were many chances for its failure. The uncertainty of 
colonial crops and the greater uncertainty of the foreign mar- 
ket, fluctuation in the value of colonial currency, the pos- 
sibility of vessels succumbing to stormy seas or being cap- 
tured by the enemy, were a few of the risks that were run by 
a colonial merchant. Logan took all possible precautions to 
insure the safety of his ventures, and never shipped goods for 
Penn but in joint shares with his own. He said in a state- 
ment of his accounts that he had suffered no loss nor mis- 
carriage in any of his negotiations after 1712. By these 
means he was able to clear for Penn £922.15 between the 
years 1713-1717 in the fur trade alone. According to the cus- 
tom of the times he bought in Penn's name shares of ves- 

12 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 291. 



Logan as Financial Agent 15 

sels. A letter dated 17U2 mentions the purchase uf two-thirds 
of the brigantine "Hopewell," one-fourth of the ship "In- 
dustry." 

As financial agent for William Penn the services of Logan 
were invaluable, not only to his master but to the colonj as 
well. His work in promoting land sales, surveying and clear- 
ing vast tracts, examining and recording deeds, and main- 
taining friendly relations with the Indians in the acquisition 
of property rights, added much to the development and the 
security of Pennsylvania. Settlers were not always satisfied 
with his decisions nor pleased by his manner, which according 
to several authorities seemed at times to have been rather 
brusque. In 1709 a company of Swedish settlers petitioned 
the Assembly for redress of grievances against the commis- 
sioner of property, James Logan, who not only charged them 
excessive quit-rents, but also threatened, reviled, and abused 
them when he came into their midst. ^-^ This petition Logan 
claimed was instigated by his enemies in the Assembly who 
were incensed at their failure to reach him through impeach- 
ment charges. 

The chief characteristics exhibited by Logan in this phase 
of his career were his integrity, industry and ingenuity. Hi.i 
accounts were always open for Penn's inspection. He wrote 
at one time: "Pray write jointly to the commissioners if thou 
suspect anything in my letters — be pleased to consult an\- from 
hence."" When Mrs. Penn examined his accounts in 1724 
she wrote Governor Keith that they proved Logan to have 
been an honest and capable servant and a faithful friend. As 
to his industry, a letter to Penn says :^^ "Returns are my 
care, and if they yield me nothing proportionable to my 
trouble. I shall lose the bloom of my youth in vain, and in 
time to come shall make of my decayed strength a monument 
of folly to instruct those that come after to beware, in short 
none in Pennsylvania undergoes the trouble I do." 

^' Votes of Assembly, II., 33. 
^* Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 141. 
« Ibid. IX., 127. 



l6 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

For these services Logan received no remuneration after the 
year IZIL Probably he felt that his services were the kind 
which money could not entirely compensate. In one letter he 
wrote : "But let me intreat thee to consider how great the 
charge thou hast been pleased to intrust to me is in many 
particulars and how much every small matter must take up 
of my time, which is wholly employed in thy service, without 
any abstraction of thought which I could not always say or 
the least regard to my own interest hitherto for which this 
last year much for the sake of the government has been an 
anxious one."^® 



" Penn-Logan Corr. IX.. 159. 



LOGAN AS LEADER OF THE PROPRIETARY PARTY 
AGAINST DAVID LLOYD. 

The most striking thing about James Logan was his versa- 
tility. He was a capable financial agent, a skillful politician 
and party leader, an able judge. He could correspond with 
the doctors of the Royal Society, and converse with Indian 
chiefs. In a land where men are few, each individual is called 
upon to play as many parts as he can, and of these James 
Logan surely took his share. This chapter and the succeeding 
one picture him as a politician and a party leader. 

The political history of all the American colonies is largely 
a record of the struggle between the governor and the popular 
branch of the legislature. The latter refused to vote supplies 
until the former had granted privileges which they felt to be 
their due. In actual warfare the Quakers among the people 
of Pennsylvania would not engage, but into this bloodless 
struggle for popular sovereignty they entered with zest and 
soon became adept. Pcnn begged them in one letter not to 
be so "governmentish." Despite his entreaties they continued 
their struggles for forty years, or until the appointment of 
Governor Keith. By this time they had attained many of 
their demands ; but had he not been a man of infinite tact 
who realized, as his predecessors had not, the ncccssit}- of 
adopting a conciliatory attitude toward the Assembly, the 
struggle might have gone on indefinitely. 

The leader of the popular party in Pennsylvania was David 
Lloyd. "The matters for which Lloyd contended were in the 
interests of the larger democracy and prosperity of the colony ; 
but Penn could not give up his undoubted rights, and Logan 
(whose duty it was to conserve those rights) would not yield 
one iota to popular clamor."^ Lloyd had been in the colony 

1 Sharpless. Political Leaders of Provincial Pennsylvania, p. 97. 



i8 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

from the bcg-inning. Penn had made him attorney general 
in 1686. He had also held the offices of clerk of the pro- 
vincial court, and master of the rolls. In 1694 he became 
Speaker of the Assembl}' and leader of the Quaker party 
against the encroachments of Governor Fletcher. Lloyd was 
a converted Quaker possessed of all the fervor which Logan 
lacked. When Penn arrived in the colony in 1699, Lloyd 
was in high favor with the people, particularly those of the 
country districts. Penn realized his power and told Logan 
to endeavor to gain his support for the new charter which the 
proprietor wished to grant the colony. He wrote : "Ply 
David Lloyd discreetly ; dispose him to a proprietary plan and 
the privileges requisite for the people's and Friends' security."^ 

Before the proprietor left Pennsylvania the importance of 
Lloyd in the colony appeared to have been materially reduced. 
On complaint of the judge of the admiralty he had been re- 
moved by Penn from his various offices. The charges against 
him were opposition to the admiralty court, and the more 
serious offense of contempt for royal authority.^ 

If the proprietor thought that this rebufif would silence 
Lloyd, he was doomed to disai)pointment. Logan tells us in 
his paper to the Assembly wn-itten at the time of the impeach- 
ment proceedings that no sooner had Penn left the colony 
than Lloyd's hostility to proprietary privilege found voice and 
action. In a speech before the court of Bucks County he 
opposed the appointment of Lieutenant Governor Hamilton 
on the ground that he was a Scotchman. With John Moore 
he was largely responsible for the confusion of courts which 
existed at the time.* Their aim, according to Logan, was to 
throw the government of the colony into such confusion that 
the crown would be forced to take notice of it, and perhaps 
relieve Penn of its control. For the same reason (he believed) 
Lloyd opposed the collection of taxes in Chester, and urged 

2 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 53. 

3 Penn-Logan Corr. X., 360, 390. Logan's reply to Remonstrance of the 
Assembly. 

4 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 139. 



Logan as Leader against David Lloyd 19 

the territories (the three Lower Counties on the Delaware) to 
separate from the province, as under the Charter of Privileges 
they had a right to do. How the people expected to benefit 
by a transfer of the colony from proprietary to royal con- 
trol, if indeed such was Lloyd's aim, is hard to see. 

When Governor Evans arrived in Pennsylvania he brought 
a commission from the proprietor appointing Logan to mem- 
bership in the council. That year Lloyd had been again elected 
Speaker of the provincial Assembly. The issue was soon fairly 
joined between the two. Many people in the colony were 
dissatisfied with Evans' commission which gave him the right 
to call, prorogue, and dissolve the Assembl\ . They were dis- 
pleased to think that Penn had reserved to himself the right 
to veto their laws. The conduct of Evans and of William 
Penn, Jr., who had accompanied him, filled them with disgust. 
Discontented with the sale of land, or the confirmation of 
titles, others were ready to join in the protest which was sent 
to Penn in the name of the Assembly. A committee of the 
House had been appointed in 1704 to draw up the remon- 
strance, but the session ended before they had composed it. 
Lloyd, who had consulted with the members concerning the 
main heads of the paper, drew it up himself, signed it as 
Speaker of the House and sent it to England, later inter- 
polating an order into the minutes justifying his act.' The 
ship on which the remonstrance was carried fell into the hands 
of the French, and the paper was captured by Ed. Singleton, a 
friend of the proprietor.^ Thus Lloyd's aim, which was to 
publish broadcast in England the fact that discontent was 
rife in Pennsylvania, was thwarted. Penn was righteously 
indignant at this piece of deception, as was his secretary. 
Logan not only wrote Penn a full account of the whole affair 
but (backed by the Governor) used every effort at the next 
session of the House to have Lloyd undo his mischief. He was 
ordered to recall the man who had started with the remon- 

5 Pcnn-Logan Corr. IX., 338. 
^ Pcnn-Logan Corr. X., 64. 



20 The Life and Public Services of Jaimes Logan 

strancc, before he left the colony. This Lloyd did, at the 
same time dispatching another agent to tell him to pay no 
attention to the first order, but to proceed to the boat. 

In his eiYorts to punish Lloyd, Penn returned the remon- 
strance to Logan with the instruction to force Lloyd to 
acknowledge it and thus either "bow him to better manners 
and gain him or prosecute to the rigor of the law." The 
paper he commanded to be read before the governor and 
Council in secret session that they might decide how best 
to prevent such intrigues in the future.^ Unfortunately for 
Penn's desires, the paper never reached the colony, nor was 
Lloyd ever brought to terms, although the proprietor wrote 
several times to Logan urging that he be prosecuted on 
charges of having executed the ofifice of the rolls without 
any commission, and recorded deeds that gave away Penn's 
property, as well as of having falsified records and minutes.^ 
"I will have that mischievous man, David Lloyd, brought to 
his knees, let his defenders do and say what they will," is the 
way that he expressed himself in one letter,^ To this Logan 
made answer that to prosecute at the present moment was im- 
possible : " 'Tis in vain, I believe, to attempt it ; he carries 
so fair with our weak country people, and those that long 
looked upon him to be the champion of Friends' cause in 
government matters in former times, that there is no pos- 
sessing them." His party had the strength always possessed 
by the wicked and foolish, Logan added in a somewhat cynical 
vein.^" 

Notwithstanding the strength of Lloyd's following in the 
colony which made Logan hesitate to impeach him, the pro- 
prietor still held a large place in all hearts. This was shown 
many times during the period of Lloyd's domination of the 
Assembly. The people would follow him to a certain point, 
but when he essayed to go beyond it in the crusade against 

'' Penn-Logan Corr. X., 17. 
8 Penn-Logan Corr. X., 71. 
s Ibid. X., 71. 
1° Penn-Logan Corr. X., 119. 



Logan as Leadi-r against David Llovd 21 

the proprietary privilege they were aj)! to rally to the support 
of Penn and elect a very different kind of assembly. This 
happened in 17U5. 

The next act in the drama was stained the year following. 
Lloyd had prepared a bill for establishing courts in the colony. 
It provided for a supreme court of appeals of three judges and 
for local courts in the various countries. Fines were to be 
used to pay the salary of judges, who were to be removable 
only by the Assembly. Evans pr(jmi)tly vetoed the measure, 
on the ground that three judges were too many and that 
fines and the right to remove judges were prerogatives of 
the proprietor. In a conference over the bill Lloyd neglected 
to stand while addressing the governor.'^ When called to 
task by Evans for this breach of courtesy he made of it a 
political question, insisting that the representative of the peo- 
ple was equal in importance to the representative of the pro- 
prietor. Evans, refusing to have his position in the colony 
thus affronted, left the conference, and Lloyd backed by the 
Assembly adjourned its session, first resolving to send another 
address to Penn, recounting the grievances which they suf- 
fered at the hands of Evans and Logan. At the same time 
they presented an address to the governor^^ in which they 
charged that it was Logan's "pernicious counsel" which had 
led Evans to veto the bill for the courts The Secretary was, 
they said, an enemy to the governor and government of the 
province w^hom they wished the governor to remove from the 
Council. 

For some time there Iiad been talk of impeaching Logan for 
the high-handed way in which he had been managing the af- 
fairs of the colony. Unable to mold the lieutenant governor 
to their desires, the Assembly turned upon the Secretary. 
They doubtless felt that if he could be displaced, Evans would 
prove more amenable. In their address to the governor they 
said: "It is the opinion of this House, N. C. D.. that if any 

" Penn-Logan Corr. X., 193. 

12 Votes of Assembly Nov., 29, 1706. Vol I. 



22 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

such Magistrate or officer shall be impeached by the Assembly 
for official misdemeanor, such Magistrate or officer, upon 
proof made of such charges, ought to be displaced at the in- 
stance of the Assembly." Having delivered themselves of 
this dictum the House proceeded to draw up its charges 
against Logan. On December 25, 1706, a committee w^as 
appointed and on February 25 following, the House accepted 
its report which was laid before the governor on the fourth 
of March. Briefly summarized, the more important charges 
which the House preferred against Logan were as follows : 

L He had influenced Penn to reserve to himself final de- 
cision in all laws. 

2. He had inserted the clause in Evan's commission em- 
powering him to call, prorogue and dissolve assemblies, 
thus subverting the Charter of Privileges. 

3. He had not administered the land office honestly or 
justly. 

4. He had held two offices at once, viz. : the office of secre- 
tary of the colony, and that of surveyor general. 

5. He had interfered with the legislative function of the 
Assembly by concealing objections of the Lords of 
Trade to laws, and by keeping in his own possession 
the text of laws passed by the House, so that copies 
could not be made. 

6. He had interfered in the elections, advising one John 
Budd to accept the office of sheriff from the governor 
rather than from the votes of the people.^^ 

Logan was not greatly disturbed by the attack. He wrote 
Penn an account of the whole affair, enumerating the charges 
which he characterized as both false and ridiculous. The 
impeachment he said was simply due to the enmity of Lloyd. 

To the Assembly Logan said that he did not understand 
the charges, and would not plead until they had been ex- 
plained to him. This served to delay matters for some time, 
as did also the question raised by Evans of his authority to 
try an impeachment. Thus the affair hung fire until the 
exasperated assembly adjourned May 19, for three weeks. 

" Votes of the Assembly Dec. 25, 1706. Vol I. 



LoGAX AS Leader against David Lloyd 23 

Upon their coming into session again the governor hAd him 
that he disapproved of their recess, whereupon they adjourned 
sine die. 

The first round between Lloyd and Logan had ended in a 
draw, with the honors slightly in favor of the proprietary 
party. Logan's astuteness had been plainly evidenced. While 
refusing to plead to the Assembly's charges, even when they 
were read to him separately by order of the governor, he 
nevertheless complained that the House did not bring matters 
to a head, and relieve him of the opprobrium of an impeach- 
ment. There were ways, he said, in which a defendant could 
delay a trial. But of these and of legal procedure in general 
he knew little. What he did know was that he was anxious 
to stand trial as soon as the House could produce its evidence 
against him. 

Meanwhile Governor Evans in raising the question of his 
right to try impeachments must have discomfited the Assem- 
bly still further. The opinion of the Council was that the 
governor had not the power, which was possessed by the 
House of Lords in England. After weeks of discussion the 
governor and Council had put the matter up to the Assembly, 
remarking meanwhile that they could not see why an Assem- 
bly that would admit such power to be resident in the gov- 
ernor's ofifice should object to his right to establish courts 
by decree. This was no doubt a bitter pill for the House to 
swallow; nevertheless they replied in no uncertain tones that 
the governor had the right to try impeachments and that if 
he still persisted in denying it they would take care "to un- 
deceive the world, and place the delay, or rather denial of 
justice, where it properly belongs."^* 

Obliged perforce to drop the impeachment proceedings 
against Logan, the Assembly of 170<S quarrelled with Evans 
and was prorogued by him until the end of its term. But the 
administration of Governor Evans was drawing to a close. 
Penn had sent him a rebuke in 1707 exhorting to mend his 

" Minutes of the Provincial Council May 19, 1707., Col. Rec. II., 379. 



24 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

ways. Here at least the Assembly had scored. A copy of 
the rebuke was sent to Logan, as was also the order the 
following year for Evans' removal. The charges on which the 
lieutenant-governor was forced to retire from office were the 
alarming growth of vice during his administration ; his in- 
difference toward the suffering of Friends in the Lower Coun- 
ties, because of their refusal to bear arms ; and the false alarm 
he had raised of the French in the river, hoping thus to rouse 
the martial instinct among the Quakers, but causing instead 
considerable confusion and loss of property.^^ 

In March 1709 Governor Gookin arrived in the colony to 
take up the task of unraveling the skein which Evans had so 
badly twisted. The Assembly lost no time in presenting to the 
new governor its side of the controversy. "In the meantime it 
is our earnest request, and cordial advice," the members said, 
"that thou may not be influenced by the said James Logan, nor 
any others to create misunderstanding between thee and the 
representatives of the People, which we are satisfied, has been 
his subterfuge." They again requested that he be removed from 
the governor's Council. ^^ The governor replied that he wished 
to inherit no quarrels from the preceding administration. With 
this unsatisfactory answer the Assembly was forced to con- 
tent itself. It adjourned until fall, and upon meeting again 
in September drew up a remonstrance against Logan which 
it caused to be placed in the most frequented building in 
Philadelphia, the Coffee House. A copy was read to the voters 
of Bucks and Chester counties. The appeal to the governor 
had failed. The House now proposed an appeal to the people 
of the colony who might respond in the election of members 
to the Assembly of 1710. 

Logan replied at once to the remonstrance. His paper 
was a curious mixture of defense and attack. After 
placing the blame wholly upon the Assembly for the delay 
in his trial, he proceeded to give a history of Lloyd's relations 
with the government of Pennsylvania from the time of Gov- 

1' Penn-Logan Corr. X., 220. 

18 Votes of the Assembly April 13, 1709. II., 22. 



Logan as Leader against David Lloyd 25 

crnor Blackwell. He felt that the attack upon him was en- 
tirely the work of David Lloyd, who was aiming through him 
at the proprietor. In order to bring Penn into disrepute, Lloyd 
had charged his agent, Logan, with possessing ail power and 
authority in the government. He had attacked him for the 
administration of the land office, for example, when as every- 
one knew, there were four commissioners of property of whom 
Logan was the youngest. This attack, of course, drew a reply 
from Lloyd, who made counter allegations charging the Secre- 
tary with having cancelled patents, altered records in the rolls 
office, and erased the name of one judge from the ballot and 
substituted another. The Assembly, which could hardly be 
termed an impartial jury, opined that Logan's paper was a 
"false and scandalous libel," while Lloyd's was "for the most 
part supported by undeniable proof." Summoned before the 
House to prove his charges against Lloyd, the Secretary was 
unable to produce witnesses. Thereupon it was resolved that 
he be committed to the county jail and adjudged incapacitated 
from holding any public offices, until he had given satisfac- 
tion for his past offenses. A warrant was sworn out for his 
arrest and the sheriff sent to serve it. At this the governor 
was moved to interfere. The Assembly he claimed had no 
right to arrest one not a member of their body. Thus aided, 
Logan escaped the threatened imprisonment and sailed shortly 
for England — a trip which he had long contemplated. The 
Assembly pressed the affair no further and the long impend- 
ing impeachment was eventually forgotten. 

Once more the tide of popular opinion turned in favor of 
the proprietor. For several years an entirely different sort 
of Assembly met the governor each October. Lloyd did not 
serve again as speaker until 1714. The bill for courts, the 
starting point of the controversy, was dropped and courts 
were continued in their old form until the time of Governor 
Keith. So far did Lloyd acquiesce in this matter that in 1718 
he accepted the chief justiceship of the colony from the 
proprietor. 

In the administration of Governor Keith, Lloyd and Logan 



26 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

were again engaged in acrimonious debate over the relative 
powers of the proprietor and the people. In that controversy 
the governor was the standard bearer of the popular cause. 
Lloyd did not enter the contest until it was nearly ended, and 
when he did he seemed to be animated mainly by the desire 
to revenge himself for his failure to destroy Logan in the 
years 1706-1710.1^ 

In summing up the qualities exhibited by Logan as leader 
of the proprietary faction in Pennsylvania mention must be 
made of his zeal, his persistence, and his courage. He shared 
with the lieutenant governor the lonely eminence of consti- 
tuted authority. Both Evans and Gookin were anxious to 
help Logan maintain proprietary privileges in the colony 
since it was to the proprietor that they owed their appoint- 
ment and continuance in office. But Evans by his rash acts, 
and Gookin by his choleric disposition bordering on insanity 
rendered but intermittent assistance to Logan. He wrote 
Penn in 1702; "Many are full of talking friendship, but what- 
ever has to be done lies wholly on me, which makes things 

sometimes heavier than I can bear I much want 

further support here ; some day I shall fall by."^^ 

The situation as he pictured it in 1702 remained unchanged 
for many years. His place in the colony was a difficult one 
to fill. He was instructed by Penn to make it his business 
to "soften and sweeten such as are anyway soured, by thy- 
self, or such persons and medicines as are likely to influence 
them."^^ This he was to do while resisting the popular de- 
mand for courts established by the Assembly, and while ad- 
vocating that the Council participate in legislation. It is not 
surprising that he should have been unpopular, or that con- 
temporaries and historians should have described him as 
harsh, unyielding and arrogant. Difficult though his position 
was, he filled it ably and creditably. As a conservative leader 
he rendered incalculable service both to Penn and to his col- 

!'■ Cf. infra, p. 45. 

18 Penn-Logan Corn IX., 127. 

IS* Penn-Logan Corr. X., 69. 



Logan as Leader against David Lloyd 27 

ony. He exercised a salutary restraint upon an Assembly 
that would have seized all at once the reins of popular sover- 
eignty. In good time it came to possess the rights for which 
it had contended under the leadership of Lloyd. In good time 
also, when the heat of battles was over, Logan received his 
reward. He was universally respected and his advice eagerly 
sought. From his retirement at Stenton he was as important 
a factor in the government of Pennsylvania as he had been 
in earlier and more active days. 



LOGAN AS LEADER OF THE PROPRIETARY PARTY 
AGAINST COLONEL ROBERT QUARRY 

As leader of the proprietary party in Pennsylvania, Logan 
was called upon to oppose, not only the popular party led 
by Lloyd, but also the disgruntled churchmen who found 
a leader in Colonel Robert Quarry, judge of the admiralty 
court. The contest between Penn and Quarry began when 
the latter laid before the Lords of Trade a series of charges 
against the proprietor. Quarry said that Penn permitted ille- 
gal trade, appointed his own water bialifs, encouraged French 
Indians to settle in his colony, did not provide a proper de- 
fense for Pennsylvania even after the money had been granted 
him, permitted juries to try cases without having been sworn, 
refused to allow appeals from colonial courts to the king's 
court, appointed Hamilton as lieutenant governor of Penn- 
sylvania, who was not properly qualified to fill the office, and 
refused the inhabitants of the territories a sight of his deed 
for their land.^ Penn denied the truth of these charges in a 
paper which he presented to the Board of Trade. At the same 
time he pointed out the fact that some irregularities in ad- 
ministering his office might be placed against Quarry's name. 
For example, Penn said, so eager was the Judge of the Ad- 
miralty to extend his jurisdiction, that he demanded the right 
to settle disputes which had arisen on the river in places 
where it was less than a mile wide. Moreover, he was ad- 
mittedly ignorant of civil law, yet exercised the right to judge 
cases. In the third place Quarry was collector of customs 
as well as judge, and paid himself out of the fines he imposed, 

1 Penn-Logan Corn IX., 24. et. seq 



Logan as Leader against Robert Quarry 29 

which furnished a fine opportunity to enrich himself unduly 
at the expense of others. 

When Quarry returned to Pennsylvania after presenting 
his case to the Lords of Trade, he boasted of the deference 
with which they had received him and of his success in 
having harmed Penn.- Logan had been actively engaged in 
collecting and forwarding to Penn affidavits to disprove 
Quarry's charges. That Penn was really disturbed by the 
machinations of Quarry is shown by the means to which he 
was willing to resort to combat him. He wrote Logan that 
he had received an anonymous letter intimating the existence 
of a quarrel between j\Irs. Quarry and one Thomas Jones, a 
ship captain. He said Jones was "both able, and willing, if 
secured his wages, viz. : £700 or thereabouts," to tell what 
he knew to Quarry's detriment. Penn urged Logan to write 
Jones and pay him his price to get the truth out of him. "If 
Quarry's knavery to the company were known 'twould blacken 
him here in his surveyorship and render it easier for me to 
get him discarded for if I live I will and shall be able to do it."' 

That Logan did communicate with Jones does not appear 
in any of his papers. Perhaps he decided that it was un- 
necessary ; for Penn wrote him the next year that the affidavits 
he had furnished him had been of such great service that "the 
very Lords Commissioners are at last come to dislike his 
(Quarry's) busy and turbulent proceedings, and I hope for a 
letter next week to send by this or the next opportunity to 
New York in 14 or 20 days' time from that board to reprimand 
his behavior." "His being an officer in the revenue shall not 
exempt him from correction."* 

The reprimand was not slow in arriving. Quarry was re- 
moved from his judgeship and Roger Mompesson a man very 
friendly to Penn was appointed in his place. Meanwhile an 
opportunity presented itself to Logan to reprimand Quarry 
in quite a different way. On one occasion he and Dr. Cox 

2 Penn-Logan Corr IX., 144. 
' Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 169. 
* Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 272. 



30 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

were enjoying a quiet drink at the White Hart when they 
were joined, quite without invitation, by Moore and Quarry. 
"Quarry was familiar and pleasant, with much smoothness ; 
but I gave him as many close rubs as I could have oppor- 
tunity, without rudeness, which makes him look rather more 
asquint than before," was the way that Logan told the story 
to Penn.^ 

Although Logan might treat him thus distantly. Quarry had 
his own friends and adherents in the colony who were glad to 
follow his advice. These were the Anglicans. In Pennsyl- 
vania members of the Church of England were in a minority 
both in numbers and influence. They resented this inferiority 
and insisted that they were being persecuted because they 
were not allowed the same place in the colony that they pos- 
sessed in England. Logan had tried to secure statements 
from them to the effect that they were receiving fair treat- 
ment in Pennsylvania,'' but had been unable to do so. They 
really were very troublesome. They refused to serve on 
juries, yet objected when juries were impanelled from among 
Friends; they would not enlist in the militia, yet complained 
that the colony was unprotected because of the pacifist ten- 
dencies of the Quakers. Their aim was to have the colony 
"taken under the Queen's more immediate care," whereupon 
with her well known Anglican proclivities, the Churchmen 
would come into their own. To accomplish this they were 
eager to follow Quarry in his attack on the courts of the 
province. 

The difficulty over the courts arose because of that tenet of 
Quaker belief which forbade the taking of an oath. By an 
Order in Council dated Jan. 21, 1702, the affirmation allowed 
Quakers in England had been extended to Pennsylvania. The 
affirmation was not deemed sufficient for the giving of evi- 
dence in a criminal case, or for serving on a jury. More- 
over, the order specifically stated that all non-Quakers were 



5 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 174. 
e Ibid. IX., 65. 



Logan* as Leader against Robert Quarry 31 

to take the oaths prescribed by law.' Armed with this order 
Quarry appeared before the Provincial Council and proclaimed 
its proceedings void until the members had complied with it. 
For a time consternation prevailed. Lawyers were consulted ; 
some of the more timid members refused to attend council 
meetings. At last two of them took the required oaths, the 
rest made affirmations, and the Council continued its work.* 

In his charges against the proprietor before the Lords of 
Trade, Quarry had asserted that men had been tried for their 
lives before juries who were not on oath — a proceeding con- 
trary to English law or justice. This was so serious a charge 
that Penn wrote to Logan to inquire as to its truth. The 
Secretary replied that there had been two instances in the 
colony which might properly come under this head. Neither 
of them was particularly important.- One was that of a priest 
who had been burned in the hand for manslaughter, having 
claimed benefit of clergy; another was that of a woman con- 
demned to death for murder of her bastard child, but the sen- 
tence had little likelihood of being executed.® The object of 
Quarry and the Anglicans was plainly seen by Logan. "We 
are really unhappily engaged here," he had written Penn in 
1702, "by lying exposed to such malicious spies, whose sedu- 
lity to serve a dishonest cause keeps their thoughts constantly 
on the tenters, and dresses up each passage in their secret 
cabals, into a monstrous shape of malfeasance." 

Because of Quarry's insistence in the matter of the courts 
the governor, Hamilton, had issued a special commission 
of oyer and terminer for such as could take an oath. 
Attorney General Moore, a friend and adherent of Quarry, 
stated that in his belief such a commission was invalid as 
Hamilton had not yet received royal approbation. All church- 
men who were drawn for the jury were advised not to serve, 
and on the day which had been appointed for the court to sit, 



^ Minutes of the Provincial Council, Nov. 4, 1716. Col. Rec. II., 618. 
8 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 214 et scq. 
» Penn-Logan Corr. IX.. 195. 



32 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

Moore mounted his horse and rode out of town.^° The mem- 
bers of the Provincial Council addressed a memorial to Penn 
on this procedure. They were especially grieved that Quarry 
and Moore, who owned not a foot of ground in the colony, 
should strive so hard to insult and make war on the rights and 
privileges of the colonists. They were determined that these 
two should not outplay them. Quarry had written Lord 
Cornbury that Pennsylvania was in such confusion as to have 
no government at all. The Quakers bent all their energies 
to disproving that statement. It was with great delight that 
Logan was able to report to Penn the opening of the court 
session on the day that had been appointed. The magistrates 
had surmounted the difficulties placed in their way and the 
court had proceeded with every observance of the queen's 
order in council.^^ 

Another source of trouble arose from the inability of the 
Quakers to administer oaths. After Hamilton's death the 
government devolved upon the Council until the next 
governor reached the colony. Three under collectors of 
the customs were to be sworn in, but the Council would not 
administer an oath. The men were referred by it to the 
court of quarter sessions. One of the collectors, Sam Low- 
man by name, questioned Moore as to the propriety of this 
procedure. Moore informed him that there was no quarter- 
sessions court, properly speaking, in the colony. The council 
he said had at last shown its weakness. For this inquiry 
Lowman was praised by Quarry as a most vigilant officer for 
the queen's interest. In detailing an account of this afifair to 
Penn, Logan opined that no one but Quarry had been able 
to discern any merit in Lowman. ^^ He advised Penn to send 
a new commission for the Council, appointing Roger Mompes- 
son president, with considerable power until a new governor 
should arrive. Moreover, he suggested that as many church- 
men as possible be appointed to membership, so that the at- 

10 Penn-Logan Corn IX., 218. 
" Penn-Logan Corn IX., 239. 
12 Penn-Logan Corn IX., 242. 



Logan as Leader against Robert Quarry 33 

tempts of Quarry to overthrow the government might be 
frustrated.^^ 

There seemed to be no hmit to Quarry's resourcefulness 
during the years 1700-1705. If his object was to overthrow 
the proprietary government in Pennsylvania, he was bending 
every effort to attain that end. He had been reinstated in his 
judgeship, and appointed surveyor-general of the customs. 
He was more powerful than before, and felt it his duty to 
entertain governors of neighboring states as they passed 
through Pennsylvania. Logan naturally desired the honor to 
fall to someone of the proprietary party. On one occasion 
Governor Seymour of Maryland arrived at night. Quarry 
alone had known of his coming and promptly carried him off, 
much to Logan's chagrin.^' At another time Lord Cornbury 
visited the colony. Quarry and Logan vied with each other 
in their efforts to dine and entertain him, but Quarry carried 
off most of the honors.^^ On this occasion the visitor was 
invited to listen to an address by the Christ Church vestry of 
which Quarry was a member. The vestrymen felicitated Corn- 
bury upon his appointment to the governorship of New York 
and the Jerseys, and hoped that he might soon add Pennsyl- 
vania to them. Cornbury replied in a politic vein that he was 
ever ready to obey the queen's commands. 

When Penn was informed b}' Logan of the numerous in- 
dignities the people of his colony had suffered at the hands of 
Colonel Quarry, he grew righteously indignant. His letters 
of rebuke for their passive submission under extreme provo- 
cation had little of the pacifist in them. "For your perplexities 
in government, methinks you have brought it too much upon 
yourselves; for why should you obey any order obtained by 
the Lords of Trade or otherwise, which is not according to 
patent or laws here, nor the laws of your own country, 
which are to govern you till repealed."^® Thus he wrote them 

isPonn-Loean Corr. IX., 200. 

iMbid IX.. 311. 

" Ibid IX., 224. 

18 Penn-Logan Correspondence IX., 247. 



34 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

concerning oaths. As to the address of the vestrymen, words 
could scarcely express his indignation. He referred con- 
temptuously to Quarry and his "gang" and scored the Friends 
of the colony who would thus tamely hear their government 
and their proprietor aspersed. Logan and the proprietary 
party were not timid, nor disloyal. They too were furious at 
Quarry's attacks. But he was so swift and acted so under 
cover of royal authority that he seemed to paralyze their pow- 
ers of action. 

In 1705 he prepared once more to visit England. Evans was 
now governor in Pennsylvania. Pie and Logan viewed this 
projected trip with apprehension. They wondered what new 
opposition Quarry was meditating. Although he had assured 
the governor that he had no complaints to lay before the 
Lords of Trade, both Evans and Lloyd were aware that he 
had made a similar statement to Hamilton before his last 
voyage. "We all know," Logan wrote Penn, "how far he is 
to be trusted." He advised Penn to dissemble and seem not 
to suspect anything when Quarry appeared before him, but 
at the same time to try to discover what the latter intended 
to do.^^ To Logan's unspeakable amazement the two men 
came to an understanding, and Penn even urged Quarry to 
take a seat in the Pennsylvania Council. This Quarry declined 
to do, saying that he could be of more assistance to the pro- 
prietor out of the Council than in it. 

To the changed relationship Logan was forced to adjust 
himself as best he could. He wrote Penn in a letter dated on 
May 5, 1707: "I treat Col. Quarry with confidence in thy 
behalf, letting him know I have the greatest dependence upon 
his honor and good will to thee, of which he gives me the 
deepest assurance and promises I shall never be disappointed 
in him ; yet be pleased to believe I consider what is prudent 
at the same time. I must own he carries very well to me, and 
has given me no reason to doubt his sincerity." 

Quarry succeeded in time in allaying Logan's suspicions, 

^■^ Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 32. 



Logan as Leader against Robert Quarry 35 

so that the latter became his advocate even against Penn. In 
1708 Quarry wrote a letter to the Bishop of London in which 
he spoke slightingly of Quakers and their ways. Penn took 
this as a personal afifront and wrote Logan in great indigna- 
tion. To this Logan replied : "I am extremely sorry to find 
thee so angry with Col. Quarry. I have been very intimate and 
free with him ever since his last arrival, and have found good 
service in it."^^ It was this ability to adjust himself to changed 
circumstances, to cultivate and use anyone who was willing 
to work in the proprietor's interests which made Logan such 
an invaluable agent for Penn. With Quarry as an ally of the 
proprietor, the Anglicans lost their leader, and ceased for a 
time to trouble the colony. Laws were passed by the Assem- 
bly in 1710, and again in 1715 regarding the right to substitute 
the affirmation for the oath, but the matter was not finally 
settled until the administration of Governor Keith. 



"Logan to Penn X., 313 



LOGAN AND THE GOVERNORS OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Between the years 1700 and 1750 Pennsylvania was served 
by seven lieutenant governors. They were various t3'pes of 
men and of varying ages. With all of them Logan was 
brought into very close contact, both because of his position 
in the colony as Penn's agent and because after 1703 he was 
a member of the governor's Council. An account of his rela- 
tions with them, therefore, must of necessity form part of a 
narrative whose object it is to recount his life and estimate his 
public services. 

Andrew Hamilton was appointed by Penn when the latter 
left the colony in 1701, but his death came in 1703 before con- 
firmation of his appointment had been made by the crown. 
This lack of confirmation caused so much confusion in the 
colony that Logan wrote repeatedly to Penn urging him to 
procure it. He notified the proprietor of Hamilton's death 
and advised him to appoint someone else as soon as possible, 
so as to thwart the enemies of Penn who were ever on the 
lookout for some hiatus in the government which would give 
them an opportunity to wrest it from his hands. To provide 
against such a contingency, Logan urged Penn to send a new 
commission for the Council, giving it more extensive powers, 
and appointing to membership as many churchmen or jurors 
as possible in an efifort to propitiate the Anglican party.^ 

On February 12, 1703, Governor Evans landed in Philadel- 
phia. Penn had notified Logan of his appointment in these 
words : "He will be discreet, advisable, and especially by the 
best of Friends and thyself as the best verst and most knowing 

1 Cf. supra, p. 32. 



Logan and the Governors of Pennsylvania 37 

in my affairs as well as engaged in my interest.'"' These 
were w^ords of prophecy which the future did not fulfill. Penn 
was apt to view his appointees through rosy-hued spectacles 
and to impute to them the qualities which he wished them to 
possess. Logan undertook the task of advising Evans, and at 
the proprietor's suggestion found living quarters for himself, 
the governor, and William Penn, Jr., in the same house. The 
proprietor's eldest son had been sent to the colony by his 
father in the hope that a change of scene might eft'ect a 
change of heart. Logan was charged with watching over 
the young man's amusements and selecting his friends. He 
was genuinely attached to young Penn, as his correspondence 
shows, and endeavored to fill his father's commands concern- 
ing him. Unfortunately Penn and Evans became boon com- 
panions. Both were young, impetuous and rather boisterous 
in their pleasures, thereby causing much scandal in the staid 
Quaker town. Finally Penn was haled before a magistrate 
for having been in a company of roistering youths who had 
beaten up the watch. This proved too much for his dignity, 
so abandoning Friends and their colony he sailed for England. 
After his departure Evans and Logan continued to live to- 
gether for a time. A dispute arising over his share of the 
expenses, the governor moved out leaving the entire burden 
on the shoulders of Logan. This greatly troubled his thrifty 
soul as the expense of the governor's single establishment 
troubled Penn. 

The chief events in the administration of Evans were the 
alarm that he caused to be raised of a French fleet in the 
river, and the building of a fort at Newcastle. In both of 
these Logan was concerned in upholding the interests of the 
proprietor. 

Evans was eager to have the colony arm itself against 
a possible French invasion. When he found it impossible 
to arouse any enthusiasm for militaristic preparations in that 
pacific community, he resolved to resort to a ruse. Accord- 

2 Pcnn-Logan Correspondence IX., 206. 



38 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

ingly on fair day when the city was crowded with people he 
had the alarm spread that six French vessels had been sighted 
in the river, near Newcastle. The report naturally caused 
the greatest consternation. People threw their goods into 
wells, women became ill ; and the payment of rents which 
was always made on fair day was quite forgotten in the ex- 
citement which ensued. Report has it that Friends generally 
were the calmest of the populace, proceeding with their meet- 
ing as though nothing had happened. Evans had produced an 
effect which must have met his expectations. He had achieved 
his result by means of a letter ostensibly written by the gov- 
ernor of Maryland to the sheriff of Newcastle, apprising 
him of the fleet. While the excitement was raging in the 
city, Logan sailed down the river, learned the truth, and upon 
his return tried to calm the people.^ He was too late to undo 
the effects of Governor Evans' rash and dishonest method of 
eft'ecting what he deemed to be a perfectly legitimate end, 
viz. : awakening the colony to a realization of the danger to 
which its unarmed state exposed it. 

A second event in Evans' administration with which Logan 
was intimately concerned was the building of a fort at New- 
castle. The governor employed Rednap, the queen's engi- 
neer, to plan and build the fort under his supervision. It was 
his intention to have all Pennsylvania vessels that passed the 
fort pay a tax of a quarter of a pound of gunpowder, while 
strange vessels were to pay half a pound. A law to this effect 
had been passed by the Newcastle Assembly, which was hold- 
ing its session apart from the Assembly of Philadelphia. 

From the time of the granting of the Charter of Privileges 
in 1700, there had been steadily increasing dissatisfaction in 
the three Lower Counties. They had not been included in the 
Charter, but had been promised by Penn a charter of prop- 
erty "suitable to our relations to one another, if they require 
it from me."^ Permission had been granted them to separate 

3 Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 124. 
* Penn-Logan Correspondence IX., 59. 



LOGAX AXD THE GOVERXORS OF PeXKSYLVAXIA 39 

from Pennsylvania if they desired. When they sought to make 
use of this permission, however, Penn was greatly disturbed. 
It proved especially disconcerting to him at a time when he 
was trying to prove to the Lords of Trade his fitness to main- 
tain order and harmony within the colony. The Lower Coun- 
ties felt that they were regarded merely as an appendage to 
the province. They demanded the consideration which they 
felt to be their due. Evans had tried upon his arrival in the 
colony to heal the breach, but had failed. In passing the bill 
for a fort at Newcastle, they threatened to ask for a governor 
of their own if the one at Philadelphia did not confirm their 
laws.^ Logan was of the opinion that the Newcastle assembly 
had no legal justification for being. He advised Evans, how- 
ever, to proceed cautiously with the members of it, because of 
their penchant for separation, until the proper relationship of 
the Lower Counties to the colony could be determined.^ To- 
ward the projected fort neither he nor the merchants of 
Philadelphia were well disposed. 

Upon completion of the fort an eflfort was made to test the 
law which had created it. A certain Philadelphia merchant, 
Richard Hill, sailed down the river, and failing to stop at the 
fort, was fired upon and pursued by the governor and men 
whom he had posted to intercept him. Escaping his pursuers, 
the captain put into port at Salem, N. J., where he sought 
counsel from Governor Cornbury. Logan also consulted 
Cornbury as well as Quarry in this affair. The opinion of 
Cornbury was that Evans had affronted his majesty's govern- 
ment by laying violent hands on men under the protection of 
her flag. He promised to take up the matter with the Board 
of Trade. This Logan deprecated as he feared it would give 
them an additional argument against Penn's ability to control 
his colony.'^ 

Urged by the merchants of Philadelphia, the Assembly and 
the Council protested to Governor Evans that the law for 

5 Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 180. 
8 Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 209. 
''Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 211 et seq. 



40 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

the Newcastle fort was contrary to royal charter and to the 
common and statute laws of England. In the face of these 
many protests the governor grudgingly agreed to suspend the 
execution of the act. He summoned the Newcastle Assembly 
in order that the members might repeal it ; then failed to 
appear at their session. After having waited three days for 
him, the members went home more than ever convinced that 
their best interests would be served by severance from Penn- 
sylvania.^ This they attempted to effect the following year. 
Having heard that Evans was to be superseded in Pennsylva- 
nia, they begged him to apply to the queen for a commission 
to rule them apart from the province.^ He had alwa,vs desired 
to establish friendly relations between Newcastle and Phila- 
delphia. Instead of paying heed to their request he attempted, 
with Logan's help, to reason them out of their project of dis- 
union. Finding remonstrance to be of no avail, the two men 
resolved to break up the session of the House by persuading 
several members to go home. It was sharp work — sharper 
than he had ever done, Logan said — but it accomplished the 
end desired, and preserved for the time the union between the 
province and the territories. 

Grave as were the faults of Governor Evans, he would prob- 
ably not have been recalled, had it not been for the protest 
of the Assembly directed at the same time to Penn, and to 
three prominent Londoners who had the ear of the Lords of 
Trade. Forced to make a decision quickly, Penn hit upon 
Colonel Charles Gookin who was sent to Pennsylvania in the 
spring of 1709. To Logan, Penn sent instructions concerning 
the new governor. He desired that the secretary and other 
Friends advise him; that he be told to keep a diary and to 
correspond with the governors of the neighboring states.^" 
Gookin was speedily informed by the Assembly of their earn- 
est desire that he be advised least of all by James Logan and 
that he dismiss him from the Council. But the Secretary's 

8 Penn-Logan Corr. X., 232. 

^ Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 303. 

^" Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 323. 



LOGAX AND THE GOVERNORS OF PeN'XSYLVANIA 41 

departure for England coupled with the election of an Assem- 
bly not dominated by David Lloyd, made smoother than they 
had been for some time the troubled waters of Pennsylvania 
politics. 

Logan returned to Pennsylvania in 1711 and resumed his 
seat at the council board. It did not take him long to realize 
that Gookin, whose instructions had been to pass no laws 
without the Council's consent, now seldom called a meeting 
of that body. Governor Evans had often failed to agree with 
his Council and had frequently acted contrary to its advice, 
but Gookin ignored it completely. Logan believed the Coun- 
cil to be an integral part of the government in Pennsylvania. 
He had on several occasions urged Penn to increase its powers. 
In 1715 he joined the other members in a protest to the 
proprietor, in which they recited the fact that the governor 
had held no Council meeting for six months. Moreover, 
they said that in scorning their advice he had preferred to 
listen to "groundless whispers of those who ought to be below 
his notice," referring to a clergyman named Phillips, with 
whom they said no decent person would associate. In the 
category of Gookin's mistakes they included his refusal to 
commission judges in Newcastle County, and complained of 
his inflexibility and irreconcilable temper as militating against 
a satisfactory administration in Pennsylvania." Gookin in 
turn attempted to strike at his enemies by accusing Logan 
and Richard Hill of treason. They had urged him, he said, 
to proclaim the Pretender on the death of Queen Anne. This 
charge he refused to substantiate when ordered to do so by 
the Assembly, and when Keith, his successor, pressed him for 
proofs, Gookin replied that his accusations were but the result 
of his passions. He offered his doctor's statement as evidence 
to prove that he suffered frequent disorders in body and brain 
which rendered him unaccountable." 

William Keith was chosen to succeed Gookin through the 
efforts of Logan and other members of the Council. They 
had approached him on the subject promising their support if 

"Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II. Aug. 11, 1715. 

" Minutes of the Provincial Council. June 26. 1717, Col. Rec. III., 16, 17. 



42 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

he would apply for the position. Having received his assent, 
they wrote Mrs. Penn recommending that she appoint Keith 
governor of Pennsylvania.^^ He was well known to the 
colonists, having served as surveyor general of the cus- 
toms since the death of Quarry in 1714. He reached Phila- 
delphia in 1717 and remained in office until recalled by Mrs. 
Penn in 1726. Thus the governor had once more been changed, 
but James Logan remained as Secretary, member of the Coun- 
cil and representative of the Penn interests in Pennsylvania. 
The importance of the Council in government, which he had 
fought to maintain during the administration of Gookin, con- 
tinued to be a controversial question under Governor Keith. 
The year following Keith's appointment, four men, namely 
Norris, Hill, Dickinson and Logan, withdrew from a meet- 
ing of the Council in protest against the governor's attitude 
toward it. Keith claimed that the Council had no legislative 
function, either by royal charter or the Charter of Privileges. 
He was willing to allow it merely formal assent to bills pre- 
pared by the Assembly and signed by the governor. 

Keith had realized that the Assembly was a force to be 
reckoned with. The Council, he felt, could safely be ignored. 
His speeches to the House were models of careful phraseology 
designed to attach the members to his service. "Gentlemen," 
he said on one occasion, "the considerable advantage which 
we daily reap from unanimity and a perfect agreement between 
the governor and the Assembly must certainly make the con- 
tinuance of it dear to everyone that bears a true affection 
to this province and its interest ; and this rule, when duly 
applied, will ever afford us in the best touchstone or proof to 
distinguish Pennsylvania's real from her pretended friends. "^^ 
The Assembly, rejoiced at this suggestion of equality, felt 
that Governor Keith was indeed their friend and the friend of 
Pennsylvania. 

As for Logan, he soon realized that the governor was not 

13 Pa. Mag. of History, XII, 8. 

14 Votes of the Assembly II., 267. 



Logan an'd the Gov^erxors of Pennsylvania 43 

his friend, and became convinced that he was likewise opposed 
to the best interests of the proprietor. In 1722 Keith, hearing 
of an unclaimed copper mine beyond the Susquehanna, made 
a trip thither in company with the surveyor general of the 
province, who surveyed there a large tract of land for Keith. ^•'' 
This act was the more flagrant in the eyes of the Council be- 
cause Keith had himself just issued a commission to one 
Joseph Pidgcon, ordering him to restrain anyone who at- 
tempted to settle, or survey the land west of the Susque- 
hanna. ^'^ Having issued the command he complained to the 
trustees of Penn's estate of whom Logan was one, that they 
had violated it in allowing James Steel, in their employ, to 
survey there. The trustees replied that it was their business 
to survey land and hold it for the proprietor. The whole affair 
caused a deal of bad feeling in the Council which felt obliged 
to censure Keith. Logan, in fact, wrote this censure into the 
minutes of April 16, 1722. Three years later the governor 
accused Logan of having falsified the minutes by inserting the 
censure which he said had not been part of the Council pro- 
ceedings, nor could it now be substantiated by any member 
who had been present at the meeting in question. Logan 
maintained that what appeared on the books was a true ac- 
count of what had been said at the meeting. Contrary to 
Keith's expectation, four members of the Council verified 
Logan's statement. To mollify the governor, the Council 
voted to strike out the censure from the minutes. ^^ 

In a letter to Joshua Gee, dated October 8, 1724,^^ the Secre- 
tary cited as further illustration of the governor's disregard 
for the interests of the proprietor, his attitude toward the 
three Lower Counties on the Delaware. He had encouraged 
them in their revolt, even going so far as to urge them to 
issue their own paper money, entirely separate from that of 
Pennsylvania. He had approved the application of the Earl 

15 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. X., Nov. 12, 1722. Logan to Springett Penn. 
1^ Minutes of the Provincial Council, April 16, 1722, IIL, 161. 
1^ Minutes of the Provincial Council, March 15, 1725, III., 245. 
18 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. X., Oct. 8, 1724. 



44 1 HE Life and Public Services of James Logan 

of Sutherland for a direct grant of Delaware from the crown. 
He had issued a charter of incorporation for Newcastle, and 
had promised the people of the territories that he would de- 
clare void all their arrears in quit-rents, if he could secure 
the consent of the commissioners of property. Such an as- 
sumption of power coupled with his disregard of the council, 
his seizure of land beyond the Susquehanna, and finally his 
personal afifront upon the integrity of the Secretary con- 
vinced the latter that some action must be taken. 

In view of the state of aftairs in Pennsylvania, Logan felt 
it necessary to sail for England. Here he submitted his case 
to Mrs. Penn, and received from her a letter to present to 
Keith, wherein the latter was reminded that he was still in 
the employ of the Penn family who retained the high regard 
which they had always felt for James Logan. Keith was 
ordered to reinstate Logan in the Council and office of Secre- 
tary from which he had removed him. As to the Council, 
Mrs. Penn ordered Keith to take its advice at all times, and 
to send no messages to the Assembly which had not been 
approved by the Council. 

Upon receipt of this message Keith turned for support to 
the Assembly whose good will he had so consistently cul- 
tivated. He was very loath to take orders from a woman, 
and believed that with the assistance of the House he might 
safely defy Mrs. Penn. In laying before them her letter 
of disapprobation he told them that it had been written under 
the direction and doubtless by the hand of James Logan. He 
maintained that in some points its instructions to him con- 
travened the Charter of Privileges. Indeed the whole letter 
was so inconsistent as to show that Logan must have been 
imbued with the strongest of passions and prejudices against 
Keith, or "he would have been ashamed to have exposed so 
much want of skill in the affairs of government as appears by 
his draught of these last instructions prepared for you to 
sign."' These words were from Keith's reply to Mrs. Penn, 
which he also laid before the Assembly .^^ 

" Votes of the Assembly, II., 417. 



Logan and the Governors of Pennsylvania 45 

Logan, amazed at the governor's course, prepared a paper 
entitled a "Memorial," in defense of his own actions. This 
paper he too submitted to the Assembly. It was immediately 
answered by David Lloyd, eager no doubt to enter the lists 
against his old adversary. Lloyd, then chief justice of Penn- 
sylvania, had been restored to his former importance as leader 
of the popular party. Moreover, he was now in accord with 
the governor, so that his position was even stronger than it 
had been in earlier years. Lloyd's paper was called a "Vin- 
dication of Legislative Power."^° It expressed his political 
creed. His main thesis was that the Council had never been 
granted legislative power ; that its only function was to ad- 
vise the governor. The real powers of government were 
vested in the Assembly and the proprietor. If he appointed 
a deputy, that person became at once empowered to do all 
that his principal might do in administering the government. 
From this general argument, completely at variance with 
Logan's views as expressed in the "Memorial," he passed to 
a personal attack on Logan, whom he accused of having raised 
quit-rents which Penn had intended to be 12d. per annum 
for 1(30 acres, to half a crown or a crown for a city lot. Logan 
could not let this challenge pass unnoticed. His reply was so 
bitter as to call forth a sharp rebuke from the Philadelphia 
monthly meeting of Friends. He replied that few things in 
his life had given him more uneasiness than this publication 
against another of the same faith. He admitted that his act 
had been contrary to good order and discipline among Friends, 
but felt that the circumstances had warranted his publica- 
tion of the reply. Lloyd's paper had been written "as if his 
whole design had been to throw a contempt on the memory 
of that great and good man (Penn), and to raise among the 
people an odium against me who for many years had served 
him."2i 

The pamphlets issued by Logan, Lloyd and Keith served no 



20 Votes of the Assembly, II., 444 ct seq. 

21 For rebuke and Logan's reply see Logan Manuscripts, Vol. X. 



46 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

better end than to draw more sliarply the alignment between 
proprietary and popular interests. Logan repented having 
started it by writing the "Memorial," which had given the 
other party "a handle to work up to themselves a kind of 
merit among the weaker sort, that is, the great number of 
the people."^- At last, Mrs. Penn, incensed by Keith's con- 
tumacious behavior, ordered his recall, appointing in his 
stead an elderly man named Gordon. The Penns were still 
contending among themselves over their father's property. 
Springett Penn favored Keith and refused to consent to his 
dismissal, while John Penn had acted with his mother in the 
matter. Logan having seen twenty-five years in the service 
of the Penn family, years that had been filled with struggles 
and controversies, now sought release. He wrote John Penn 
that he had entered Penn's employ before John's birth and 
had continued in it until John was older than Logan had 
been when he came to Pennsylvania.^'^ In another letter, writ- 
ten three months later, he complained that Pennsylvania was 
no longer a fit place to live in and that he contemplated re- 
turning to England until some of the difficulties had been set- 
tled. The trouble with Keith had been bad enough, but if the 
Penn family continued to quarrel among themselves, life there 
became unbearable. "For my own part," he said, "I am quite 
tired with standing the public butt to all your enemies."^* 
John wrote a conciliatory letter to Logan, but it was of no 
avail in inducing him to continue longer in the office of Secre- 
tary. "As to affairs of property," he wrote, "I have repeatedly 
told you that 'tis impossible to serve you with efifect until 
your controversy is decided." ^•' He remained in the Council 
until 1747, when he resigned and his son was appointed in 
his place. He continued, despite his objections, to serve as 
trustee for the Penn estate, and in 1731 was appointed chief 

22 Letter to Mrs. Penn from Logan manuscripts. Quoted in Pa. Mag. 
of History, Vol. Z2,, p. 347. 

23 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. I., p. 199, July 15, 1725. 

24 Ibid, Vol. X., Oct. 8, 1725. 

25 Ibid, Vol. X., June 23, 1726. 



Logan and thi; Goverxors of Pennsylvania 47 

justice of Pennsylvania. Thus his activities were as great as 
before, but with the succeeding years his tasks grew lighter 
because he no longer had to contend with a headstrong 
Evans, an unbalanced Gookin, or an egotistical Keith. 

Of Gordon's ability to govern the people Logan had not a 
very flattering opinon. With his advancing age and years of 
service he had grown more outspoken. In 1727 he wrote: 
"Our governor appears to have a true sense of humor, but 
you could not but perceive that his understanding is in no way 
above the business he was bred to, and you are sensible that 
government requires a turn of thought very different from 
what is necessary to qualify a soldier for anything but a 
supreme command, or something near it ; besides he is really 
impaired by age which sensibly appears in the decay of his 
memory-''^** His appointment Logan regarded as particularly 
unfortunate following the administration of one so able and 
so skillful as Keith. The fact that the late governor had 
remained in the colony, the leader of a rebellious faction, 
made Gordon's position doubly hard, and emphasized still 
further his weakness. 

As a consequence of Keith's actions the colony was kept 
in an uproar for two years longer. He had the approval of 
Thomas Penn and of a portion of the Assembly, so felt able 
to bid defiance to Logan, Gordon, and Mrs. Penn. Logan 
disliked all evidences of lack of harmony among the Penn 
heirs. He was particularly grieved to think that Thomas Penn 
should condone the audacity of Sir William Keith. He wrote 
Thomas a chiding letter informing him that his friends in 
Pennsylvania were loath to believe the stories of his intimacy 
with Keith, and could account for it only on the grounds that 
Harlan, an agent of Keith, had been warping his better judg- 
ment or else that Keith had offered Penn his services in the 
Maryland controversy. If the latter, Logan warned him to 
beware lest Keith should persuade him to accept 40 degrees 
as the boundary line which would entail a loss of most of 

26 Logan Manuscripts. Vol. I., Logan to John Penn, Oct. 20, 1726. 



48 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

Conestogoe IManor, half of Lancaster County, and consider- 
able of Chester. 

The next year, 1732, Thomas Penn came to Pennsylvania, 
followed in 1734 by John. Logan had long hoped in vain for 
their arrival. In 1721 he had w^ritten Mrs. Penn suggesting a 
match betw^een John and Hannah Hill, a Pennsylvania dam- 
sel of sixteen years, w^ho lacked nothing v^^hich could reason- 
ably be desired in a wife.^^ John had been born in America, 
therefore, his presence in the colony seemed peculiarly fitting. 
Nothing came of this proposal. Then Logan wrote of the 
Indians who were hungry for a glimpse of the proprietor's 
family, of the troubles in Delaware, and of the Maryland 
boundary line, all of which needed the personal attention of 
the Penns. Squatters, mainly Scotch-Irish, had settled on 
acres of land in Conestogoe Manor, which was the best land 
in the province. "In short, if speedy measures are not taken, 
you may give up the country. This is the most audacious at- 
tack that has ever yet been offered. "^^ At last his letters had 
the desired effect. John Penn's stay in the colony was brief, 
but Thomas remained for nine years. 

The government ran along smoothly under the guidance of 
Gordon and Logan, for Thomas Penn although his name ap- 
peared at the head of the minutes of the Council, took little 
actual part in the administration. Logan having refused to 
retain the office of secretary or take charge of the lesser seal, 
had retired to his country house at Stenton to indulge him- 
self in books and experiments with plants. Nevertheless, he 
continued to give advice to the new secretary, Richard Peters, 
and to serve as member of the Council. Toward the close 
of Gordon's incumbency the question of the establishment of 
a court of chancery was revived. Gordon held that the court 
as established in 1720 was illegal. Logan wrote an opinion 
on the subject in the name of the Council and submitted it 
to the governor. He maintained that the court, consisting of 

27 Penn Manuscripts, Vol. I., May 28, 1721. 

28 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. I., Dec. 18, 1730. 



Logan and the Governors of Pennsylvania 49 

the governor and Council, had been established by Keith only 
after a careful consultation of the best legal minds in Penn- 
sylvania. He assured the Assembly, which had raised the 
question of the court's legality, that the Council had no par- 
ticular desire to sit as a court, but inasmuch as it had been 
so constituted he could see no good reason for objecting to it.^^ 

Upon Gordon's death in 1736, the government devolved 
upon Logan as president of the Council. For two rather 
uneventful years he occupied this post, though not without 
protest. The minutes of the Assembly contain an account of 
the trouble he had with Maryland over some German settlers 
in Lancaster County. It is a record of letters exchanged with 
the governor of Maryland, of night raids on unprotected famil- 
ies, whose only crime lay in their having settled so close to 
the boundary line that their allegiance and their taxes were 
claim.ed by both governments. Logan had been a command- 
ing figure in Pennsylvania politics for so long that the nominal 
headship of the provincial government could bring him no ad- 
ditional renown. He continued to urge the Penns to relieve 
him of the government. In 1738 they appointed Governor 
Thomas, but upon his death nine years later, they would 
again have had Logan, then in his 73d year, take upon him- 
self the burden of the administration. Logan, who had once 
whimsically written to a relative of the Penns, *T have some- 
times thought of begging leave of thy cousins to die when 
my time comes, since no other disability, not even this sur- 
prising providence will avail to discharge me," declined the 
appointment. His death came four years later, in 1751. 

For half a century the name of James Logan had been in- 
dissolubly linked with the development of the province of 
Pennsylvania. Whether his influence in provincial politics had 
been for good or for evil, it had been wonderfully potent. 

One author says that Logan was the power behind all the 
governors from the day of his arrival until his death,^" a broad 

3" Armor, Governors of Pennsylvania, p. 438. 

29 Minutes of the Provincial Council February, 1736. Col. Records, 
Vol. IV., p. 27 ef seq. 



50 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

statement, but one which seems amply justified by facts. Of 
all the historians by whom Logan is mentioned but one de- 
nounces him, or imputes to him any but the purest of motives. 
A book was published in 1759 by Benjamin Franklin, under 
the title, "Historical Review of the Constitution and Govern- 
ment of Pennsylvania." Franklin has usually been accredited 
the author of it, but Edward Armstrong says in his preface to 
the Penn-Logan correspondence that he denied having writ- 
ten^^ the book. Though it speaks of Logan in a most un- 
complimentary way, it does not minimize his power. Gov- 
ernor Evans, the author tells us, was Logan's screen ; his suc- 
cessor, Gookin, became Logan's tool. To quote a sentence : 
"The first (Gookin) had the name; the latter (Logan) had 
the power ; and by the help of the Council spurred him on, or 
reined him in, as he pleased. "^^ Even Keith, powerful and 
clever though he was, had to bow before the "all sufficient 
secretary." Logan himself said of Governor Gordon : "In 
afifairs of government he lies almost as a dead weight on me,"^^ 
and admitted that for at least six years after his appointment 
every ofificial document that appeared with Gordon's name on 
it had first passed through Logan's hands.^* 

Perhaps his achievements in the field of Pennsylvania poli- 
tics are best summed up by Dr. Sharpless who says : "As 
Secretary and agent of the Penn family, trustee under Penn's 
will, Secretary of the Council, Mayor of Philadelphia, Chief 
Justice of the Province, and for a time acting lieutenant gov- 
ernor, he was for fifty years a most potential, perhaps, the 
most potential influence in provincial affairs. "^^ 



31 Penn-Logan Correspondence, Vol. IX., p. x. 

32 Franklin, Op. cit., p. 71. 

33 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. I., letter to John Penn, Oct. 20, 1726. 
3* Ibid, letter to John Penn, 1734. 

35 Sharpless, Political Leaders of Provincial Pennsylvania, p. U.S. 



LOGAN AS FRIEND OF THE INDIANS. 

The annals of many of the colonies are stained with the 
blood of Indian warfare. The general attitude of the Anglo- 
Saxon settlers, in contrast to their French neighbors, wa-s 
that the Indian was an inferior being who might be ignored 
and treated with contumely; or that he was an ignorant 
child-like savage to be made drunk with "fire water" and 
recompensed for acres of his hunting grounds with a few 
beads or scarlet coats. 

The story of Penn's treaty with the Indians upon his arrival 
in America has been too frequently the theme of history and 
of painting to need repetition here. The historic spot is pre- 
served by a park and a tablet ; and surmounting the dome of 
the city hall of Philadelphia a majestic figure of the [pro- 
prietor faces the scene of the only "treaty never sworn to, 
and never broken." For "Onas" the Indians conceived an 
eternal respect which extended to the family and servants of 
the great proprietor. 

Especially did their esteem rest upon James Logan, not 
only for the relation which he bore to Penn, but also for his 
own fair and brotherly treatment of them. Logan explained 
their regard for him in a letter to Governor Hamilton. "The 
proprietor himself at his leaving in the year 1701 having in a 
most solemn manner at a great meeting with them recom- 
mended me to them as the person particularly intrusted to 
take care of them in his behalf, and likewise them to me, from 
whence they distinguished me so far, that I had often dif- 
ficulty to oblige them to consider the governor in his station 
as became them."^ So great was their aflfection that the story 

1 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II., p. 65. Undated except year, 1747. 



52 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

is told of one Indian who wanted to change names with 
Logan. The tactful Secretary replied that he was quite will- 
ing for the Indian to hear his name, but that the Indian's name 
might better be given to a stream in the vicinity which would 
be a memorial to him long after James Logan had died and 
been forgotten. This reply seemed to satisfy the Indian who 
adopted forthwith the name of Logan. The testimony of one 
Hockanootamen in 1703 voiced the regard of the natives. 
The paper read : "Hockanootamen says thus : James Logan 
is my brother and friend and he shall have my land on Sakung 
Creek, and the Dutch folks and other people settled on it 
without his leave or my leave shall not have it. Old William 
Penn was my brother. I have seen him often, and his chil- 
dren are my children. So says Hockanootamen."^ To this 
document the Indian put his mark and delivered it into the 
hands of the Secretary. 

The esteem in which Logan was held by the Indians de- 
pended as much on his personal qualities as on his relations 
to Penn. From the time that he arrived in the colony to 
practically the day of his death, he was in communication 
with them. In 1701 he was ordered by Penn to "examine 
closely about those that fired upon the Indians and fright- 
ened them by Dan Pegg's." In 1748 Conrad Weiser, the 
ofificial Indian agent in Pennsylvania, prepared a message to 
the red men, but sent it first by his son to James Logan for 
his approval.^ These are not chance or sporadic instances, as 
"For fifty years he conducted most of the transactions with 
the red men with great success."* 

Logan's services to the Indians, and to the colony were 
various. First may be mentioned his hospitability. While 
Penn was in the colony the dusky sons of the forest loved to 
gather in large numbers at Pennsbury to feast with the gov- 
vernor and pay him their respects. After Penn had left the 
colony, and his estate had fallen into decay, Logan enter- 

2 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. XL, July 7, 1730. 

3 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. XL, March 29, 1748. 
^ Sharpless, op. cit., p. 121. 



Logan as Friend of the Indians 53 

tained the Indians at Stcnton. The minutes of the Council 
record upon one occasion a company of 100 men who were 
entertained there for three days, the Council coming out from 
the city to hold its meeting in their midst. In a speech to 
the council the leader of the Indians said that they had merely 
stopped to rest and refresh themselves at the home of their 
friend, James Logan, before proceeding to the city.' 

Logan realized the importance of maintaining friendly re- 
lations with the Indians, inasmuch as their colonial nvals, 
the French, were particularly careful to do so. In 1703 he 
wrote Penn: "I design next month for Conestogoe, God will- 
ing, to treat with the Indians there and confirm them; for 
we have many lying reports about the attempts of the French 
to debauch all."^ He believed that courteous treatment and 
suitable presents were excellent investments for Pennsylva- 
nia. For the Indians to ally themselves with the French 
whether in peace or in war meant that the English trade would 
be diminished and the purchase and sale of land in Pennsyl- 
vania hindered. On the other hand a proposal for an alliance 
of the English with the Indians, Logan felt to be worth 
the consideration of Penn and of all the kingdom." A letter 
w^rittcn by Logan to a prominent Indian chief named Allu- 
mapes expresses fully his desire and his abihty to win their 
esteem. He said: 

"I am glad to hear our brother has a son born to 
him in his old age. I hope he will grow up as a young 
flourishing tree, and become as a plant to his fath- 
er's house, for good sons are the crown and glory to 
old years ; but I am sorry to hear our brother is weak 
and not very healthy this winter. I have sent him by 
William Clark's servant to J. Smith a bottle of the 
richest wine to comfort his heart, of which I would 
have him to have one small dram at once when he is 

5 Minutes of the Provincial Council, Sept. 27, 1736, IV, 79. 
«Penn-Logan Correspondence, IX, 179. 
7 Ibid IX., 89. 



54 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

weakly and no more at one time. 'Tis canary wine, a 
great comforter to sick hearts, for so I have found it. 
I also send two planting hoes and I hope my friend 
will be in good health to see them used in the spring. 
Thv affectionate friend and brother, 

J. L."« 
"Confirming the Indians" had to be repeated many times. 
Some slight to their dignity, the insidious counsel of other 
tribes or of the French, enhanced by valuable presents, was 
often sufficient to turn them from their allegiance. The Iro- 
quois rather gloried in their neutrality and independence. 
They told both French and English that they were vassals of 
neither, but would be faithful to whichever nation most valued 
their friendship. In 1731 traders returning from the Ohio 
reported that the Shawnees, hitherto friends of the English, 
had raised the French flag. Logan was greatly troubled at 
this intelligence. He wrote Conrad Weiser, directing him to 
go to the Shawnees and say in a most casual manner to their 
chiefs that the English hoped the Shawnees would come back 
to live with them as their friends ; that they would be good 
and honest, and join with the five nations.^ He insisted that 
Weiser be careful to give this advice as an afterthought when 
his real message had been delivered, lest the Shawnees feel 
that the English were claiming too much control over their 
action. 

Logan's ability in Indian affairs was known beyond the 
bounds of Pennsylvania. In 1736 Governor Gooch of Vir- 
ginia communicated with him, requesting him to urge the 
Iroquois to make peace with the Catawbas and Cherokees." 
Logan sent Weiser to Albany to lay the matter before the 
authorities of New York, suggesting that it be proposed to 
the Indians when they gathered at Albany the following 
August for their annual visit. He drafted the proposals to 
be placed before the Iroquois at that meeting. Gooch had 

8 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II., Feb. 1, 1730. 

9 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II., Dec. 15, 1731. 

10 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II., Jan. 22, 1737. 



LoGAX AS Friend of the Indians 55 

complained of an Iroquois who had killed a southern Indian. 
Logan apprehended the culprit and sent him south for trial. 
Despite his efforts, the Iroquois were unwilling to bury the 
hatchet with the Cherokees and Catawbas, so negotiations fell 
through. ^^ 

With the five nations residing in Pennsylvania, he was 
more successful. He had frequently to treat with them re- 
garding the sale of land. One transaction of the year 1736 
was particularly successful. Weiser was sent with £15 and 
two strings of wampum to announce the death of Governor 
Gordon and to assure the Indians that it would make no dif- 
ference in their relations, as "their old true friend and father 
William Penn's own son is here, and so is James Logan, whom 
their said father, William Penn, when he was last here about 
thirty-five years ago, left in his stead to take care of his 
brothers the Indians. Tell them further that my house is in 
their way to Philadelphia, and that I expect they will stop 
and rest themselves there, and that Thomas Penn and John 
will meet thcni and speak with them and there we will know 
one another."^^ Weiser was further instructed to tell the 
chiefs of the five nations of a dispute which had arisen between 
a Jersey Indian, Nootomis, and the Pennsylvania authorities 
regarding land. Logan had produced a deed for the land, 
but Nootomis was unconvinced that it was no longer his 
property, and resolved to apply to the five nations for aid. 
Logan wished Weiser to obtain from the Iroquois a treaty 
which would state that they controlled no land on the Dela- 
ware, thus forestalling Nootomis. He desired also a promise 
on their part to sell no land in Pennsylvania to anyone white 
or Indian save to the proprietor. This was a delicate request 
to make of the haughty Iroquois. Weiser was told to address 
them thus: "Tell them the five nations are our brethren, 
honest, wise, discreet and understanding men, and we can 
treat with them with pleasure, but the others are weak and 



1* Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II., Logan to Gooch, Sept. 24, 1739. 
"Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II., Oct. 17, 1736. 



56 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

too often knavish." Other Indians would be protected by 
Penns3ivania, but with the five nations alone would the colony 
treat ; for them alone was the fire kept.^^ The appeal to their 
vanity was successful and they promised Weiser that hence- 
forth they would sell their land in Pennsylvania only to Penn 
or his agents." 

Logan desired to hold for Penn not only a monopoly of 
Indian lands, but sole trading rights as well. A law was 
passed by the Assembly forbidding any to trade with the In- 
dians save those who had been licensed by the government. 
This restriction irked the Indians who naturally wished to 
obtain their muskets and matchcoats in the cheapest market. 
To soothe their irritation, and win them to his point of view, 
Logan addressed a letter to Shekallamy, one of their leaders. 
He explained to him that the law had been passed for the 
advantage of the red men, that none save those whose con- 
duct was vouched for by the government might trade with 
them. He urged Shekallamy to persuade the Pennsylvania 
Indians to drive out, or take prisoner any strange Indians 
from New York or New Jersey who sought to obtain their 
lands or engage in illicit trade with the white men." 

One of the most potent causes for trouble was the occasional 
murder of a white by an Indian, or vice versa. If the Indian 
was the aggressor the whites were eager to rise and wipe out 
the entire Indian settlement. If, however, it was an Indian 
who had suflfered they were not especially anxious to prose- 
cute the offender. In Pennsylvania an attempt was made 
to mete out justice to both races. A law of the Assembly 
for which Logan is said to have been responsible provided 
that anyone killing, wounding, beating or abusing an Indian 
was to be punished just as though he had mistreated an 
Englishman, and was to be fined besides. Anyone spreading 
stories which might alienate the minds of the Indians was to 
be heavily fined. £50 also was to be voted annually for the 



18 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. X., Oct. 18, 1736. 

1* Logan Manuscripts, Vol. L, p. 103. Undated except year, 1731. 



Logan as Friend of the Indians 57 

purpose of carrying on negotiations with the Indians, and pro- 
viding presents for them. 

In 1720 two brothers named Cartelege, were accused of hav- 
ing murdered an Indian at Conestogoe. The Indians had 
promised to submit such cases to the Pennsylvania authori- 
ties by virtue of the law mentioned above, instead of them- 
selves taking vengeance on the whites. Consequently they 
sent messengers to Governor Keith to demand justice. Keith 
was very successful in his dealings with the Indians — so suc- 
cessful as to draw from Logan a letter of commendation to 
Mrs. Penn in his behalf. When he had listened to the com- 
plaint of the Indians he dispatched Logan and Col. John 
French to investigate the murder on the ground where it had 
been committed. The two men conducted the investigation 
with such success that they not only satisfied the Indians, 
but won from the Assembly a vote of approval (which was 
at the same time a speech of thanks to Keith) as follows : 
"The impowering two gentlemen of his council, so able and 
prudent, in an emergency of such importance, whose wise 
conduct therein is very conspicuous from their report ; which 
at the request of the House the Governor has been pleased 
to communicate to us, is satisfactory."^^ 

When word reached Logan of the contemptuous way in 
which Governor Clinton had treated the Mohicans whose 
alliance the French were courting, he wrote in great indig- 
nation to Richard Peters, secretary of the colony. Logan 
had ceased playing an active part in the government, but 
his mind was so less vigorous than of yore. He had written 
Governor Gooch in 1738: "During the 38 years and upwards 
that (two voyages to England excepted) I have resided in 
this province, I have on all occasions taken pains to pre- 
serve and cultivate a good understanding with and amongst 
the natives of all nations near us."'® Now, in 1745, he was 
still sufficiently interested in maintaining their friendship to 

15 Votes of the Assembly, Apr. 28, 1722, 11., 314. 
^* Log:an Manuscripts, Vol. II. May 11, 1738. 



58 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

express to Peters the hope that the ministry at home might 
learn of Clinton's neglect of his duty, and reprimand him 
for it." 

The best evidence of Logan's service to the province of 
Pennsylvania in Indian affairs comes from the testimony of 
the Indians themselves. In 1742 the chief of the Onandagas, 
addressing Governor Thomas, said of Logan : "He is a wise 
man and a fast friend to the Indians, and w^e desire when his 
soul goes to God you may choose in his room just such an- 
other person of the same prudence and ability in counseling 
and of the same tender disposition and affection for the In- 
dians. "^^ 



17 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II., Oct. 10, 1745. 

18 Cited in Wescott, Historic Mansions, p. 149. 



LOGAN AS CHIEF JUSTICE. 

For eight years, from 1731 to 1739, James Logan was chief 
justice of Pennsylvania. Of his contributions to judicial pro- 
cedure, of the cases he heard, and the decisions he rendered, 
no record remains. The documents relating to the early pro- 
vincial courts were destroyed years ago by people who con- 
sidered them to be of no importance. Scattered references 
in the minutes of the Provincial Council and the proceedings 
of the Assembly throw what light is to be had on the courts 
and judges. 

As has been described above, a quarrel arose in the admin- 
istration of Governor Evans between him and the Assembly 
over the establishment of courts, which resulted in the im- 
peachment of Logan.i After matters had reached a dead- 
lock, Evans established courts by ordinance, taking as his 
authority for so doing a provision in the Charter of Privileges 
which authorized wholesome ordinances for the preservation 
of peace and the better government of the people. In this 
ordinance the term, "Supreme Court" is used for the first time. 

In 1710, after Evans had been replaced by Gookin, the As- 
sembly passed and the governor signed an act embodying 
most of the principles for which that body had earlier con- 
tended in vain. This act provided for four judges to be ap- 
pointed by the governor to hear appeals at law, or in equity. 
All capital offenses were to be tried before special commis- 
sions of oyer and terminer. The act was repealed by the crown 
in 1713, but was re-enacted in practically the same form and 
remained in force until 1719. 

The administration of justice in Pennsylvania was com- 

1 Cf. supra, p. 22. 



6o The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

plicated by the fact that the Quakers would neither take nor 
administer an oath, a circumstance that made it difficult for 
them to serve on juries or to fill judgships under existing laws 
in England.^ In the administration of Governor Keith, legis- 
lation on the subject of courts was again enacted, and laws 
were passed in England extending to Quakers in America the 
privilege of substituting the affirmation for the oath in most 
cases. The provincial courts established by law in 1722 were: 
county courts of quarter sessions, the judges to be appointed 
by the governor, county courts of common pleas, and a supreme 
court to sit twice a year at Philadelphia and to have general 
appellate jurisdiction and original criminal jurisdiction in 
capital cases. At the same time the penal code was revised 
and many more offenses were termed capital than had been 
under the more humane code of William Penn. After taking 
the advice of the Assembly and of the attorney general, Keith 
had established in 1720 a court of chancery to consist of the 
governor and council. This was to be the storm center of 
discussion between governor and Assembly fifteen years later. 
In 1735 the House passed a resolution to the efifect that a 
court of chancery so constituted was a direct violation of the 
Charter of Privileges. Governor Gordon asked the Council to 
give him its opinion of the legality of the court. The paper, 
written by Logan and signed by the Council, argued that the 
court had been established to fill a great need; that it was not 
in violation of the Charter and that if it had been, surely 
members of the Assembly of 1720, many of whom were in that 
body in 1701 when the charter was granted, would have then 
protested. Despite Logan's reasoning the Assembly persisted 
in declaring the court illegal, comparing it to the Star Cham- 
ber of Tudor days, and it was abandoned. 

James Logan was not a lawyer, but he had a broad educa- 
tion and possessed an analytical mind which more than com- 
pensated for his lack of legal training. This lack he shared 
with most of the judges of the time, David Lloyd his pre- 

- Cf. supra, pp. 30, 32. 



Logan as Chief Justice 6i 

decessor as chief justice being a notable exception. Most men 
attained the higher judicial position after an apprenticeship 
in the minor courts. Logan had sat in the orphans' court, the 
quarter sessions, and the court of common pleas before he was 
made chief justice. 

For many years there were no public buildings in Philadel- 
phia. The court sessions were at first held in an ale house. 
Later a two-story building was erected at Second and Market 
streets which served not only for all court sessions, whether 
city, county or supreme, but for the meetings of the Assembly 
as well. Near this building were the stocks, pillory and whip- 
ping-post so essential to the application of provincial justice. 
For picking pockets, a woman, Frances Hamilton, was sen- 
tenced to be exposed for two hours on the court house steps 
facing the pillory, then to be publicly whipped.^ At one quar- 
ter sessions in Philadelphia, held in 1733, thirteen men and 
one woman were convicted of grand larceny and sentenced to 
be whipped.* The severity of the punishment did not deter 
the frequent repetition of the offense. Contemplating this 
condition of aft'airs, Logan wrote his verdict upon man as 
follows : "Man the only visible creature that we know capable 
of considering or contemplating that beauty (of the well or- 
dered universe) is of all creatures the most irregular and dis- 
ordered in his pursuits, the most wild and extravagant in his 
views."' 

Logan was by no means anxious to accept the highest 
judicial honor which the colony had to offer. Isaac Norris had 
been approached by the governor, but had declined the ap- 
pointment. Logan felt that it did not pay enough to make it 
worth his while to accept it ; moreover, his health at this time 
was far from good and he had suffered an accident in 1728 
which made him lame. Writing to Thomas Penn of his ap- 
pointment, he said that he had been "prevailed on with utmost 

3 Watson, Annals, Vol. Ill, p. 163. 

5 Logan to John Hoop, May 15, 1729, Deborah Logan's Selections, Vol. V. 

* Ibid, Vol. I., p. 309. 



62 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

reluctance to mount the bench on my crutches," when every- 
one else had refused.® 

There w^ere two associate justices who served with Logan 
and who went on circuits through the colony. The court had 
a spring and a fall term following procedure in England. A 
brief glimpse of the cases which came before it, and which 
were referred to the governor and Council for mercy, on rec- 
ommendation of the chief justice appears in the records of the 
Council, Thus in the minutes for April 29, 1735, we read that 
Logan had held a court of oyer and terminer and general jail 
delivery at which two men, Cornelius O'Brian and Edward 
Fitzgerald, had been convicted of burglary and sentenced to 
death. They had presented a petition for pardon to the gov- 
ernor and Council who, upon Logan's testimony, decided to 
reprieve Fitzgerald and banish him from the colony. O'Brian 
as the more practised in crime, they declined to pardon. But 
upon Logan's further plea in his behalf, he too was ordered to 
leave the country. Such a method of exposing the other colo- 
nies to the undesirable citizens of Pennsylvania seems to have 
been a common mode of procedure. The minutes of the Coun- 
cil show that in 1737 a negro was condemned, on his own plea 
of guilty, to instant execution for having set fire to a house 
in Philadelphia. The associate justices were inclined to show 
him mercy because he had confessed his guilt. Logan was 
placed in a difficult position because it had been his house that 
the negro had burned. Moreover, the negroes were becoming 
so unruly in the colony that he felt that an example should 
be made of one of them. At last he relented and on the advice 
of the rest of the council the master of the negro was or- 
dered to give bond for transporting him, not merely without 
the bonds of Pennsylvania, but outside any English colony.'^ 

The minutes of the Council for June 23, 1737, tell of several 
men who had been sentenced to death and whose sentence had 
been passed upon by the Council, according to custom. After 

^ Logan Manuscripts, Vol. Ill, p. 345. 

^ Minutes of the Provincial Council Sept. 3, 1737, Col. Records, Vol. IV. 



Logan as Chief Justice 63 

due consideration it was decided to spare the youngest of the 
condemned persons on account of his extreme youth. In or- 
der to strike terror to his heart and restrain him if possible 
from further crime, the Council ordered that he be taken with 
the others to the place of execution, then reprieved as he 
mounted the gallows. 

Such is the meagre record of cases that came to the court 
of Chief Justice Logan. As his elevation to the bench had 
not been of Logan's seeking, neither did he enjoy the eminence 
which he had attained. His lameness and his desire to enjoy 
uninterrupted the solitude of Stenton, and his beloved books 
made him anxious to lay aside the judicial ermine as soon as 
possible. But more important than these was the uneasiness 
which he felt at being obliged to pass a sentence of death on 
a fellow creature.^ He had hoped in 1735 that someone else 
might be prevailed upon to fill the place. Therefore he had 
taken more than ordinary care in composing the address which 
he delivered that year to the grand jury, expecting that it 
would be the last one he would be called on to make. He 
sent a copy of his address to his friend Thomas Story in Lon- 
don, begging his criticism and comment. He hoped in this 
address to leave as a memorial of his chief-justiceship some 
thoughts that would instruct and edify the people. Courts 
only punish oflfenses ; they do not inquire into the causes of 
crime, said Logan. Therefore he aimed in this charge to 
examine and explain these causes so that his hearers, properly 
informed, might avoid crime themselves, and so disseminate his 
deductions that society at large might be bettered. Then 
followed an inquiry into the order of the animal world, and 
the ways by which man has misused, or failed to use the 
reason which God has given him, and which should if prop- 
erly directed enable him to live a good life. He concluded his 
address with a eulogy of the English constitution, the best 
in the world because of that institution (one of many ex- 
cellent ones) known as the grand jury. All members of a 

' Armistead, ^rcinoirs, p. 117, Letter to Thomas Story, June 12, 1736. 



64 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

community are thereby held in a common bond, and charged 
with the duty of apprehending offenders and bringing them to 
justice.® 

For four years after he had delivered this charge Logan re- 
tained the office of chief justice, during part of which time 
(1730-8) he was also acting governor. With the arrival of 
Governor Thomas in 1738, and his retirement from the bench 
in 1739, Logan gained a long sought release from active par- 
ticipation in provincial administration. 



® Charge to the Grand Jury. Given in full by Armisted, op. cit., pp. 
120-133. 



LOGAN, THE MAN. 

It is impossible to form a proper estimate of James Logan, 
the public servant, without knowing something of James 
Logan the private individual. He was by no means merely 
a capable public functionary, although he more than earned 
that title. His versatility is shown by the fact that he was 
able in the persistent round of public duties, to amass and 
enjoy a library, correspond with some of the leading minds 
of England and the continent and engage in scientific and 
literary pursuits. By his marriage in 1714 to Sarah Reed, 
whose father Charles Reed was a man of importance in the 
colony, he became more closely bound to Pennsylvania. The 
home life of the Logans was a wholesome and happ_\' one. 
There were four children, two sons and two daughters who 
grew to maturity ; three children died in infancy. The oldest 
son, William, was sent to Bristol to be educated, after the 
fashion of the time. Letters which passed between the boy 
and his father reveal the tender admonishing spirit of the 
latter. He wrote : "Thou sayst my friends there are very 
kind to thee for which I am obliged to them. But I charge 
thee; value not thyself, nor be in the least elated upon it, 
for since it is not on thy own account, but mine, it would be 
extreme folly." In another letter William was warned that, 
if he did not behave himself, he could hope for nothing but 
infamy among men (his father included), and certain destruc- 
tion both in this world and hereafter. He had always been 
addressed "Dear Child," but wishing him now to feel the 
responsibilities of approaching manhood, his father wrote: 
"Dear Son, As thou art now past fourteen and therefore thy 
years should admonish tiiee, it is time to wean thy mind 
from all childest thoughts and entertain it with such as are 
more manly, so I change my appellation t(T thee." 



66 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

Logan took a li\cly interest in his son's studies. His edu- 
cation was to be the sole capital that he would receive from 
his father, just as it was all that Logan had received from his. 
Following the accepted standards of what constituted an edu- 
cation, Logan wrote his son that he was to study Greek, 
familiarize himself with Latin as though it were English, ac- 
quire a small, running handwriting, and learn all the arith- 
metic that was to be taught, although after he had mastered 
division, all future processes depended on reason. To improve 
his Latin he was to write verses and letters, especially all 
those which he addressed to his father. Of one of his Latin 
epistles Logan wrote: "Thy Latin letter to me was accept- 
able, but I plainly see thy master's hand in it, and therefore 
cannot from thence form any judgment of thy proficiency." 
Loving messages from his mother and sisters, bits of news of 
the community, an occasional gift of spending money, were 
sent to William in far off Bristol. Logan was not extra- 
vagant, and he had not the least intention that his son should 
acquire that vice. With a present of three shillings went the 
admonition to use it sparingly, as his father's income was a 
limited one, whatever William might hear to the contrary.^ 
The girls were educated at home under the careful eye of 
their parents. Their training was not so extensive as their 
brother's, but it did enable them to read sermons aloud to their 
father and mother, "an employment on their part that they as 
well as their hearers, were very well pleased with," as Logan 
wrote Thomas Story who had sent him the sermons. 

Another letter to Story throws interesting light on the 
training of the oldest daughter. "Sally, besides her needle, 
has been learning French, and this last week has been very 
busy in the dairy at the plantation in which she delights as 
well as her spining." In a later paragraph, Logan mentions 
the instruction in Hebrew which he had given her with such 
success that she was able to read it after two hours' study. 
This he did as an experiment of her ability for his own diver- 

1 For letters from Logan to his son see Logan Manuscripts, Vol. IL 



Logan, The Man 67 

sion, for a^ he said, "I never design to give her that or any 
other learned language, unless French be counted such."^ 

Patrick Logan, the father of James, had adopted the Quaker 
belief, and his children had grown up in that faith. It was 
doubtless the common religious bond which had brought 
Penn and Logan together, and had determined that the destiny 
of the latter should be wrought in Pennsylvania. Logan was 
sincerely religious, but he had not the fervency which distin- 
guishes the convert. He lived and died a member of the 
Friends' Society, though never taking a very prominent part. 
Indeed he was several times rebuked by them for his "un- 
friendly" conduct. With their doctrine of non-resistance 
Logan was not in absolute accord. He believed that aggres- 
sive warfare was wrong, but to fight on the defensive was 
quite another matter. When the war of the Austrian Succes- 
sion was impending he expressed his views on the subject to 
the Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia. He held that it was as 
justifiable to attempt to hold property as to acquire it. But 
Friends were so inconsistent. They refused to bear arms be- 
cause they believed it to be contrary to the teachings of 
Jesus, yet did not scruple to break other equally binding pre- 
cepts such as not laying up for themselves treasures on earth. 
No consistent Friend, he said, could take part in government, 
as all government was founded on the idea of force. Yet they 
did administer the government of Pennsylvania, and main- 
tained their right to impose their doctrine of non-resistance 
on the non-Quakers who were now a majority of the citizens. 
A better course, he felt, would be for all those opposed, in 
defiance of the will of their mother country, to a defensive 
war to refuse election to the Assembly. It was deemed best 
by those who read this letter not to give it to the Yearly 
Meeting. Perhaps they feared the effect of a statement so at 
variance with the orthodox view, issuing from the pen of one 
so prominent as Logan. He was indignant at their refusal to 
make public his letter, and prepared thirty copies of it for dis- 
tribution, then thought better of it. 

2 Armistead, Memoirs, pp. 94-96. 



68 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

Qther illustrations are not lacking to show that James 
Logan was frequently in opposition to the leading Quaker 
minds in the colony. Writing in this strain to Penn he said : 
"Travelling Friends will give no good account of my strict- 
ness. I am willing all should know that I neither am, nor ever 
was a strict professor and I will make my outside appearance 
agree Vv^ith what I really know myself to be.'"^ This explained 
his habitual use of "]\Iy lord," in addressing Lord Cornbury, 
or other notables of rank with whom he came in contact. One 
story relates how on his voyage to Pennsylvania the ship 
was attacked by pirates. Penn retired to the cabin to pray; 
Logan armed and went to the assistance of the crew. After 
the danger had passed, Penn rebuked him for his readiness to 
fight. Logan replied with perhaps a shade of malice in his 
tone, that Penn had not sought to dissuade him while the 
enemy threatened.* On another occasion he accompanied the 
sheriff of Philadelphia in an expedition to dislodge by force 
one Daniel Cooper who had taken possession of some islands 
in the Delaware. When rebuked by the Friends' Monthly 
Meeting of Philadelphia for having borne arms, Logan ex- 
pressed his regrets and said that he would not have done so, 
could he have foreseen the consequences. The consequences 
to which he referred consisted apparently in the fact that the 
matter had attracted the notice of the Meeting."' 

Besides an "Address on Defensive Warfare," Logan pub- 
lished other works in Latin and in English. Several were 
controversial pamphlets which stated his views on proprietary 
government. Of these the best was "The Antidote," an an- 
swer to Lloyd's "Vindication of the Legislative Power." 
Logan also was the author of "Cato's Moral Distiches En- 
glished in Couplets." He was interested in new accomplish- 
ments in the realm of science, and this interest found ex- 
pression in his ready pen. He experimented with Indian 

■^ Quoted in Sharpless, op. cit., p. 118. 

•♦Cited in Keith, Provincial Councilors of Pennsylvania, 1733-1736, 
p. 6. 

5 Pa. Magazine of History XXL, p. 122. Letter from Logan to Monthly 
Meeting, Dec. 25, 1722. 



LoGAN', The Max 69 

maize in an effort to determine sex relationship in plants, 
then wrote a treatise in Latin and in English, embodying his 
conclusions. The treatise was called "Experiments and con- 
siderations on the generation of plants." He was a patron 
both of Godfrey and of Franklin. In behalf of the former he 
wrote: "An Accovmt of Mr. Thomas* Godfre3''s Improvement 
of Davis' Quadrant, transferred to the Mariner's Bow." This 
paper, together with one on algebra, he communicated to the 
Royal Society in England. Of algebra he was a great ad- 
mirer, writing to Pcnn in 1706 that inasmuch as it was wholly 
employed in the finding of equations, he considered it to be the 
best rule to be transferred to the conduct of life." 

His taste for literature was reflected in his library of over 
3,000 volumes. It represented the patient selection of fifty 
years, and was as complete a collection of classical and scien- 
tific works as could be found in the new world. In nothing 
did Logan take more keen delight than in his books. In his 
will he bequeathed his librar}^ a room in which to house it, 
and i25 a year to secure the services of a librarian, to the city 
of Philadelphia. The entire bequest which he valued at £2,000, 
he said was "solely designed for the use of the public in order 
to prevail on them (having such assistance) to acquaint them- 
selves with literature." 

Logan had a keenly analytical mind which delighted in 
formulating rules and discovering basic principles. He read 
the works of the best natural philosophers, but reserved to 
himself the right to disagree with their conclusions. He took 
issue with Hobbes for example as to the natural end of man. 
In 1731 he retired to his country home at Stenton, withdraw- 
ing from the busy whirl of politics to indulge himself in the 
luxury of books and quiet contemplation As he looked back 
over his thirty years of active service in the colony, now 
happily about to terminate, he was moved to consider man and 
his capabilities. Like the painstaking worker that he was, he 
arranged his ideas in written form, although so far as is 

^ Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 139. 



70 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

known he did not intend to publish them, nor to present them 
to other eyes. This paper, together with a letter written in 
1729 to a friend, John Hoop, and his charge to the Grand Jury 
in 1735 summarize Logan's philosophy. As to his methods of 
procedure he said: "It has been, and is, my rule and method 
to investigate the truth' and reality of things abstracted from 
all prejudices whatever with the utmost care and application."'^ 
All knowledge, he said, consists of truth. Truth or knowl- 
edge may be classified as : 

1. Metaphysical — or knowledge of the universe, which is 
beyond our comprehension. 

2. Physical — or knowledge of nature. Here our knowl- 
edge consists merely of the agreement of our ideas 
with the object affecting them. 

3. Moral truth which is concerned with the conformity 
of our actions to external forces. 

4. Verbal truth — the agreement of speech with thought. 
Man greatly overrates his capacities and abilities because he 
has the power of reason. An analysis such as the foregoing 
should convince him that he can no more scale some mental 
heights than he can fly in the air, or breathe in the sea.^ 
Vol. V. 

The thesis on knowledge was left unfinished. In his letter 

to Hoop, and his charge to the Grand Jury, Logan discusses 
the "rational end for the formation of man." Man by his 
perverse use of his reason and his free will has deviated from 
the principles of right, so that government has been found 
necessary to restrain him. Yet man, imperfect and vain 
though he be, has implanted within him the seeds of all the 
social virtues, which combined with his power to reason en- 
ables him to imitate but never to attain the order and per- 
fection of the universe. The true end of man is the union of 
his soul with God. Tn seeking to attain this end he must 
not rate reason too highly. Reason distinguishes but it rarely 

^ Armistead, Memoirs, p. 136. 

* Deborah Logan's manuscript selections of James Logan's papers, 
Vol. V. 



Logan, The Man 7i 

incites the soul to higher things. It is only when combined 
with affection that reason contributes to virtue.^ 

Logan was a very modest man. He had no wish to appear 
didactical ; no desire to pose as an authority. His discourse to 
Hoops was ended thus : "Thou wilt think perhaps, my friend, 
by this that Saul is got amongst the prophets, but I am neither 
prophet, nor prophet's son." On one occasion, soon after he 
had come to Pennsylvania, Logan upheld the doctrine of non- 
resistance in a discussion with Lord Cornbury, Sir Thomas 
Lawrence, and others. He changed his views somewhat as 
he grew older, but in 1703 he was convinced that those w^ho re- 
fused to fight would never need to do so. In writing to Penn 
of the discussion he said: "But this discourse will come very 
unexpectedly from me, I suppose it is beyond my business."^" 
Asked by Penn for his opinion on the transfer of Pennsyh ania 
to the crown he replied: " 'Tis a task," I am sensible, that 
would require a much abler head and hand."^^ 

If Logan was modest, he was at the same time capable of 
forming very decided opinions, nor was he lacking in courage 
to voice these opinions when he felt that the occasion required 
it. He had condemned the short-sighted policy of Governor 
Clinton in dealing with the Indians. In 1731 he wrote a 
letter to a friend in England (his name does not appear on the 
manuscript), in which he compared the activity of the French 
and English in building forts, and allying themselves with the 
Indians. He was of the opinion that the French would like 
nothing better than to obtain the English colonies, and com- 
plained of the fact that they had been allowed, in 1700. to 
make accurate soundings of New York harbor. He placed the 
blame for this lax administration on the Board of Trade, 
claiming that "when the truth is known it will be found that 
the Board has been more injurious than beneficial to ye British 
interest in America. "^^ 

» Charge to the Grand Jury, Armistcad, op. cit. p. 120-13. 
^0 Pcnn-Logan Correspondence, Vol. IX., pp. 228, 229. 
"/fc.rf X., p. 40.. 
12 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. Tl , pp. 16, 17. 



72 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

In nothing is Logan's conservatism more apparent than in 
his views of the desirability of paper money. Pennsylvania 
had suffered from a lack of a medium of exchange. Logan had 
found it difficult to collect rents from the colonists, since 
although they had plenty of wheat or other produce, they had 
no ready cash.^^ Li the administration of Governor Keith 
a bill was proposed for the issue of paper money. Logan and 
Norris presented their dissenting opinions to the Assembly. 
Their argument rested upon the inexpediency of adopting 
a scheme which could only operate five years at most without 
royal approbation, the impracticability of paper which would 
have to be constantly renewed, and surety that paper would 
depreciate in Pennsylvania as it had elsewhere, thereby aiding 
the debtor and injuring the creditor class of the colony.^^ 
These arguments did not prevent the issue of paper money ; 
the demand for it was too widespread for that. They did serve 
to convince the legislators of the necessity for a very con- 
servative measure, which was perhaps all that Logan and 
Norris had expected of them. The bill as it was finally passed 
provided for an issue of £15,000 to last for eight years. It 
might be loaned at 5% on the security of from two to three 
times its value in houses and land.^^ After two years' trial 
Logan was still averse to paper money. He wrote Mrs. Penn 
that it had so changed the course of trade in the colony as 
to give him more difficulty than before in finding a market 
for goods, the sale of which furnished the remittances due 
the proprietor's family.^" The majority of the colonists were, 
however, very much pleased with the measure. The House 
voted to send a letter to the proprietors extolling Keith for 
thus promoting the prosperity of the colony.^^ Paper money 
in Pennsylvania was a success, but if the credit is largely due 
to Keith who proposed it some measure of gratitude also be- 



13 Cf. supra, p. 11. 

14 Votes of the Assembly, II., pp. 339-341. 
i=''Ibid II., 344. 

16 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. X, July 30, 1724. 
"Votes of the Assembly. Dec. 7, 1725, II., p. 483. 



Logan, The Man 73 

longs to Logan and Norris, whose efforts to restrain the 
House resulted in the passage of so conservative a measure 
that the paper never depreciated to the extent of the issues in 
practically every other colony. 

Had Logan been unhampered and unchecked by David 
Lloyd and other champions of democracy, his conservatism 
might have proved a decided hindrance in the development 
of free institutions in Pennsylvania. Logan believed that 
participation in the government was a privilege and not a 
right. The functions of government were to be exercised by 
those best fitted by birth, education, and experience. In ex- 
plaining to Penn the situation in Delaware, where is "nothing 
but trouble following trouble, as waves roll after waves in the 
sea,'" he said that one of the main reasons for the disaffection 
there was "heaping privileges on a people who neither knew 
how to use them nor how to be grateful for them.^** Such 
sentiments, combined with a manner naturally haughty, cost 
him the good opinion of many, and can not but be reckoned as 
faults in a summing up of Logan the man.' On one occasion 
the Assembly issued a formal protest against his supercilious 
and overbearing mode of address, resenting it as a breach of 
privilege; on another a petition of Swedes to the Assembly 
prayed for relief from his insults. Yet his speeches to the 
Indians and his correspondence with his friends and his secre- 
tary, Edward Shippen, show him to have been both courteous 
and considerate. Doubtless the reports of his disagreeable 
manner were exaggerated by his political enemies who could 
see nothing but arrogance in the uncompromising devotion 
with which he served Penn. 

Logan did have a directness of speech, however, which made 
him appear at times very blunt. He wrote Penn in 1705: 
"In any letter thou writest to Friends, pray be pleased not 
to set such a value as thou dost upon the charter granted, 
for most are of opinion it is not worth so many pence, and 

" Pa. Mag. of Hist., Vol. 33, p. 347, Letter of Logan to Hannah Penn, 
January 1, 1726. 



74 The Life and Public Services of James Logan 

if mine were asked, I should rate it still lower. "^^ In 1731 
he wrote Thomas Penn on the condition of affairs in the 
colony. After going into some detail on the questions of the 
Indians, Keith, and the Maryland boundary, he said: "You 
have been abundantly furnished by me with all necessary 
information on these heads, how far you have regarded them 
you may perhaps have occasion to consider." He became 
even more blunt as he continued to outline in detail the history 
of the relations between Pennsylvania and Delaware. He 
wrote that Penn had heard all this before ; "Yet as I have 
had some instances of your forgetting at least what I have 
divers times in very plain terms represented to you, I shall 
here once more give you a succinct history of them as follows.^" 
Logan did not hesitate, also, when meeting Quarry and Moore 
at the White Hart tavern, to give them "as many close rubs 
as he could without rudeness." ^^ This was his version of 
the conversation, but to the gentlemen in question his "close 
rubs" may have seemed quite rude. He was not without tact 
on most occasions. Yet he wrote to Penn to thank him for 
a hat and wig which the latter had sent from London, and 
remarked that the hat was too large so he had given it to 
Caleb Pussey, and the wig would do him no service as he was 
now wearing his own hair. -^ 

If Logan had another fault worth considering it was his 
regard for money. When he arrived in Philadelphia he was 
a young man with his own way to make in the world. Ac- 
cording to his own statement he received nothing from his 
father save his education. From Penn he received a small 
salary until 1711 after which he had to depend wholly on other 
means of support. He early engaged in trade which though 
hazardous, was a fairly lucrative undertaking. William Penn 
gave him 500 acres of land in Bucks County and Thomas 

19 Penn-Logan Correspondence, X., 9. 

20 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. III., Oct. 9, 1731. 

21 c. f. supra, p. 30. 

22 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 291. 



Logan, The Man 75 

Penn allowed him to buy 5000 acres in 1724. " He was able 
to build for himself a comfortable mansion, and amass a large 
library. That he managed to succeed so well was due to his 
thrift. There are occasions, however, when this thrifty spirit 
seems to approach parsimony. P'or a time his greatest griev- 
ance against Governor Evans was that the latter had with- 
drawn from their co-operative housekeeping scheme, leaving 
Logan to shoulder the entire burden. In 1726 he refused to 
serve longer as secretary of the province as there was not 
enough profit in it. ^^ He was unwilling to become chief justice 
in 1731 because, among other reasons, it did not pay enough 
to make it worth his while. ^^ But perhaps the best illustra- 
tion of Logan's regard for his pecuniary welfare is found in 
a letter to his wife. The letter had to do with an Indian 
woman, Anne le Tort, whose services Logan wished to reward. 
He told his wife to give the Indian woman 20 pounds of beads 
from Burlington mixed with some of a poorer quality that 
had come from New York. That Logan intended the woman 
to judge her gift from its weight rather than its quality is 
evident from his instructions to his wife to wrap the beads 
before presenting them so that the poorer ones would not be 
shown. ^® 

The purpose of this thesis has been to portray the life and 
public services of James Logan. An impartial verdict cannot 
fail to set over against these faults of conservatism, haughti- 
ness of manner, bluntness of speech, and a too great regard 
for money, a host of virtues which greatly outweigh them. 
Among these virtues must be reckoned honesty, loyalty, 
patriotism, courage, devotion to family, a capacity for work 
and a painstaking care of detail. He deserves to be more 
widely known than he has been in the past as a character of 
sterling worth and as a most influential figure in the early 
days of Pennsylvania. 

23Armistead, op. cit., p. 173. Letter quoted from Logan to Thomas 
Penn, 1747. 

2< Logan Manuscripts, Vol. X., Letter to John Penn Tunc 23, 1726. 
25 Ibid. Vol. IIL. p. 345. Letter to Thomas Penn, Oct. 9, 1731. 
2« Ibid. Vol. II. 



76 The Life and Public Services of James LoGA>f 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I. Source Material : 

A. Manuscript — 

L Logan Papers. 45 volumes in the Historical So- 
ciety of Pennsylvania. These consist mostly of 
original letters, deeds, and treaties with the Indians. 

2. Logan Letter Books. 7 volumes. These were kept 
by Logan and contain first drafts of all letters sent 
by him. 

3. Deborah Logan's Selections. 5 volumes. Letters 
and documents selected and copied by Deborah Logan 
from the Logan papers. 

4. Penn Papers. 

B. Printed— 

1. Penn-Logan Correspondence. 2 volumes. Volumes 
IX and X of the Pa. Hist. Soc. Memoirs. 

2. Pennsylvania IMagazine of History, 42 volumes. 

3. Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representa- 
tives of the Province of Pennsylvania, printed by 
Franklin in 1752. 

4. Minutes of the Provincial Council, found in Colonial 
Records. 

5. Pennsylvania Archives, first and second series. 

6. MacDonald, Select Charters illustrative of American 
History, 1606-1775. 

II. Secondary Material: 

1. Armistead, Wilson. Memoirs of James Logan. Chas. 
Gilpin, London, 1851. This contains several letters 
and papers of Logan. 

2. Armor, Wm. C. Governors of Pennsylvania. Phila- 
delphia, 1872. 

3. BoUes, A. S. Pennsylvania, Province and State. 
Philadelphia, 1899. 

4. Fisher, S. G. Making of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, 
1898. 

6. Franklin, Benjamin. Historical Review of the Con- 
stitution and Government of Pennsylvania from its 
origin. London, 1759. 

7. Keith, C. P. Chronicles of Pennsylvania, 2 volumes. 
Philadelphia, 1917. 



BiBLIOCKAPIlY 17 

S. Keith, C. P. Prov'inc'xal Councillors of Pennsylvania, 

1733-1736. Philadelphia, 1883. 
9. Loyd, \V. H. Early Courts of Pennsylvania. Boston, 

1910. 

10. Martin, J. H. Bench and Bar. Philadelphia, 1883. 

11. Sharpless, Isaac. Political Leaders of Provincial 
Pennsylvania. New York, 1919. 

12. Thompson & Wescott. Historic Mansions and Build- 
ings of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1895. 

13. Watson, J. F. Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsyl- 
vania, 3 volumes. Enlarged and revised by Samuel 
Hazard. Philadelphia, 1877. 



VITA. 

The author of this dissertation was born in Jersey City, New 
Jersey in 1890. She was educated in the public schools of 
Rutherford, New Jersey, graduating from the Rutherford 
High School in 1908. She next attended the State Normal 
School at Trenton, New Jerse3% from which she was graduated 
in 1910. After teaching in the public schools of New Jersey 
for five years, and attending extension courses at Columbia 
University she did a year of residence work, receiving the 
degree of B. S., and a diploma in Education, from Teachers 
College in 1916. In 1917 she received the degree of A. M. 
in the Faculty of Political Science of Columbia University. 
Subsequent graduate work, including the preparation of this 
dissertation, has been done while teaching in the West Phila- 
delphia High School for Girls and the Girls' High School of 
Brooklyn. 



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